ARTISTS

Maiko Kasai

Maiko Kasai creates paintings that explore the relationship between narrative and painting by composing stories based on scenes she witnessed in her everyday life or introducing a new, uniquely imagined perspective that complements untold parts of existing stories. Her paintings, characterized by bold brushstrokes and usage of empty spaces, are populated by socially undifferentiated beings such as young girls, animals or cartoon character costumes. The vague compositions and colors that cause the subject to merge with the background express her pictorial world at once as figurative and abstract.

Born 1983, Aichi. Kasai received an MA in oil painting from Kanazawa College of Art Graduate School. She received Second Prize in the Shell Art Award in 2008. Selected exhibitions include VOCA (The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, 2016), Shell Art Award Artist Selection (The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2012), and 30th Outstanding Rising Artists Exhibition (Sompo Japan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 2011).

WORKS

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EXHIBITIONS

NEWS

CV

  • Maiko KASAI
  • 1983

    Born in Aichi, Japan

  • 2009

    MA Oil Painting, Kanazawa College of Art Graduate School

  • 2007

    BA Oil Painting, Kanazawa College of Art

  • SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
  • 2022

    Moonlight, Yuka Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo

  • 2017

    Little Owl’s Eyes, Yuka Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo

  • 2015

    Narrative detours, Yuka Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo

  • 2013

    Neighbor’s Garden, Yuka Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo

  • 2011

    Place no one knows, YUKA CONTEMPORARY, Tokyo

  • 2010

    Fundamental Training, YUKA CONTEMPORARY, Tokyo

  • 2008

    GALLERY b. TOKYO, Tokyo

  • SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
  • 2020

    The Rite of Spring, Yuka Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo

  • 2017

    Somewhere I Have Never Travelled ~ seeking the future together, URANO, Tokyo

  • 2016

    FINE ART / UNIVERSITY SELECTION 2016-2017, Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki
    Summer Showcase 2016 Nagoya, Galerie En, Nagoya
    VOCA, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo

  • 2015

    MATCH, The Okazaki Shinkin Bank, Nagoya
    Oil on canvas, Yuka Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo

  • 2014

    pinpoint, Motoazabu Gallery, Tokyo

  • 2013

    Why not live for Art? II – 9 collectors reveal their treasures, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo

  • 2012

    Shell Art Award Artist Selection (SAS) 2012, The National Art Center, Tokyo
    Various Drawings, YUKA TSURUNO, Tokyo

  • 2011

    Feel the rhythm, Color me bright, Everyday is a carnival, YUKA CONTEMPORARY, Tokyo
    The 30th Outstanding Rising Artist Exhibition, Sonpo Japan Museum of Art, Tokyo

  • 2010

    The 7th Nishiwaki-City Thumbhole Grand Prize Exhibition, Okanoyama Museum of Art Nishiwaki, Hyogo
    ARTS CHALLENGE 2010, Aichi Art Center, Kanazawa

  • 2009

    New Artists 2009, Gallery Jin Projects, Tokyo
    Graduation Works 2009 Kanazawa College of Art, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

  • 2008

    Shell Art Award 2008, Daikanyama Hillside Forum, Tokyo / Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto

  • AWARDS
  • 2010

    Selected at ARTS CHALLENGE 2010, AICHI ART PROGRAM, Aichi

  • 2009

    The 24th HOLBEIN Scholarship, HOLBEIN WORKS, LTD.

  • 2008

    Shell Art Award 2008(Second prize), Shell Art Award, Tokyo
    The 7th Nishiwaki-City Thumbhole Grand Prize (First Prize), Okanoyama Museumu of Art NISHIWAKI, Hyogo
    Jinzukyo Art Exhibition Triennial 2006 (Encouragement Prize), Toyama City, Toyama

  • COLLECTION

  • Pigozzi Collection
    Daisuke Miyatsu Collection
    Takahashi Collection
    Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K.
    Okanoyama Museum of Art Nishiwaki
    Kanazawa College of Art

  • BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • [Catalogues]
    ACRYLART 2011, HOLBEIN WORKS, LTD., 2011, p.16, p.46‐48
    Outstanding Rising Artist Exhibition, The Art Foundation of Sonpo Japan, 2011, p. 24
    Selected at ARTS CHALLENGE 2010 in Aichi, AICHI ART PROGRAM, 2010, p. 10 – 11
    The 7th Nishiwaki-City Thumbhole Grand Prize, Nishiwaki City, 2008, p.7
    Shell Art Award 2008, Showa Shell Sekiyu, 2008, p. 13
    Jinzukyo Art Exhibition Triennial 2006, Executive Committee of Jinzukyo Art Exhibition, 2006, p. 8

    [Articles]
    Shibusawa, Kazuhiko, Saknkei News Paper, 25 August 2011
    Shell Art Award 2008 announced, Bijyutu Techo magazine, Bijyutu Syuppan-sya, December 2008, p.308‐309

    [Others]
    Hanatsubaki, Shiseido, June 2015, p. 30 – 35
    Takahashi, Ryutaro, The new artist selected by famous collector, Art Collector magazine, Seikatsu no Tomosha, April 2011, p. 26
    Art Collector’s, Seikatsu no Tomosha, August 2018, p. 36 – 37

  • ARTIST WEBSITE

  • http://kasaimaiko.com