In Kashihara’s works, layers of dense yet translucent colors such as blue, pink, green, and brown are applied in bold touches to vividly convey the fundamental energies of the earth. What come to manifest are faraway worlds beyond time and space, where the imaginary and reality coalesce.
Kashihara interweaves the impressions gained from her visits to virgin forests in Japan and abroad, her experiences in Germany where she had lived for a long time, and inspiration from various landscapes with her own memories, thereby depicting imagined landscapes of forests, lakes, mountains, caves, and geological formations that seem to belong to no specific place nor time. Among them, lakes in particular are an important motif for the artist. Taking inspiration from a phrase in Noriko Ibaragi’s poem, “Every human being should have place for a calm and silent lake within the depths of their heart,” the artist expresses her desire to harbor a lake within herself, and continue envisioning her ideal lake.
Yuka Kashihara was born in 1980 in Hiroshima Prefecture. In 2006 she graduated from the Japanese Painting Department of Musashino Art University. In the same year she moved to Germany, and in 2013 she acquired a Diploma from the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. In 2015, she was named a Meisterschüler (Masters graduate) of the same academy, studying under Professor Annette Schröter. In 2008 she exhibited at the Bauhuas Dessau Foundation in Shakkei (“borrowed scenery”), a solo show curated by research scholar Torsten Blume of the same Foundation, and in 2012 she exhibited in VOCA, Tokyo, where she received both the Honourable Mention Award and the Ohara Museum of Art Award.
1980 Born in Hiroshima, Japan
2006 B.F.A in Japanese Painting, Musashino Art University, Tokyo
2012 Stayed in Germany under POLA Art Foundation Grants Program
2013 Completed Diploma in Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
A part-time lecturer of Musashino Art University, Department of Japanese Painting, Tokyo (-2017)
2015 Completed Meisterschüler in Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany (under Prof. Annette Schroeter)
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She has moved her base from Germany to Japan in 2022.
Solo Exhibitions
2024 | “Pile of signs”Tomio Koyama Gallery Maebashi, Gunma, Japan |
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2022 | “Yuka Kashihara” Acquavella Galleries, Palm Beach, FL |
2021 | “Lemon” The first floor lobby of Dai-ichi Life Hibiya Head Office, Tokyo, Japan “1:1” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan |
2019 | “Polar Green” 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
2017 | “Self Similar” Gallery Martin Mertens, Berlin, Germany |
2016 | “First Island - Last Mountain” Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan “Sky-Eye Weaver” 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
2013 | “Repeating Traces” Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
2012 | “Transition”TKG Editions Kyoto, Japan |
2011 | “Amid” Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
2008 | “Shakkei” (“borrowed scenery”) Bauhaus Dessau, Germany |
Group Exhibitions
2024 | “Place in my heart” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan “CADAN × ISETAN ART GALLERY MY DISCOVERY” Isetan Shinjuku Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan “The 9th Higashiyama Kaii Memorial Nikkei Nihonga Award” The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan |
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2023 | “Plastic Revives” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan |
2022 | “Spring is around the corner” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan “Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes” Acquavella Galleries, Palm Beach, FL / New York, USA |
2021 | “萬華鏡 KALEIDOSCOPE” YIRI ARTS, Taiwan "Find your travel" POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan “TOKYO⭐︎VOCA Ⅱ” The first floor lobby of Dai-ichi Life Hibiya Head Office, Tokyo, Japan |
2020 | “Christmas Smile Pola Museum Annex, Tokyo, Japan “TOKYO⭐︎VOCA” The first floor lobby of Dai-ichi Life Hibiya Head Office, Tokyo, Japan |
2019 | “Tomio Koyama Gallery: Works from the Gallery Artists and the Collection 4” 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
2016 | “Klassen Treffen” Kunsthalle der Sparkasse, Leipzig, Germany
Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan |
2015 | “Malerinnen aus Leipzig” Kunsthalle der Sparkasse, Leipzig, Germany
8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
2014 | POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan “Ohara Contemporary at Musabi” Musashino Art University Museum, Tokyo, Japan “Kein Spaß” Masterclass Exhibition, Dresden, Germany |
2013 | “Kein Spaß” Masterclass Exhibition, Erfurt, Germany “Ohara Contemporary” Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan “Why not live for Art? II -9 collectors reveal their treasures” Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Japan |
2012 | “VOCA '12” The Ueno Royal Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan |
2011 | “Mind the Gap” Specks Hof, Leipzig, Germany |
2008 | Galerie Burgstrasse, Halle, Germany |
2007 | Galerie Burgstrasse, Halle, Germany |
Public Collections
Kunsthalle der Sparkasse, Germany
Nanjo Art Museum, Japan
Ohara Museum of Art, Japan
Awards
2024 | The Honorable Mention Award, The 9th Higashiyama Kaii Memorial Nikkei Nihonga Award |
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2012 | The Honorable Mention Award, The Ohara Museum of Art Award, VOCA '12 |
“Pile of Signs”
“Polar Green”
Group Exhibition “Tomio Koyama Gallery: Works from the Gallery Artists and the Collection 4”
Group Exhibition “Tomio Koyama Gallery: Works from the Gallery Artists and the Collection 2”
“Sky-Eye Weaver”
Group Exhibition “Yuka Kashihara, Hideaki Kawashima, Makiko Kudo, Toru Kuwakubo, Masahiko Kuwahara, Atsushi Fukui”
“Repeating Trace”
“Transition”
“Amid”
Charity Auction “Place in my heart” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibition “CADAN × ISETAN ART GALLERY MY DISCOVERY” Isetan Shinjuku Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibition “The 9th Higashiyama Kaii Memorial Nikkei Nihonga Award” The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Charity Auction “Plastic Revives” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan
Charity Auction “Spring is around the corner” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan
Solo Exhibition “Yuka Kashihara” Acquavella Galleries, Palm Beach, FL
Group Exhibition “Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes” Acquavella Galleries, Palm Beach, FL/ New York, NY
Group Exhibition “萬華鏡 KALEIDOSCOPE” YIRI ARTS, Taiwan
Charity Auction “Find your travel” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan
Solo Exhibition “Lemon” The first floor lobby of Dai-ichi Life Hibiya Head Office, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibition “TOKYO VOCA II” The first floor lobby of Dai-ichi Life Hibiya Head Office, Tokyo, Japan
Solo Exhibition “1:1” POLA MUSEUM ANNEX, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibition “Christmas Smile” Pola Museum Annex, Tokyo
Solo Exhibition “Self Similar” Gallery Martin Mertens, Berlin, Germany
Solo Exhibition “First Island – Last Mountain” Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama
Group Exhibition “Klassentreffen” Kunsthalle der Sparkasse Leipzig, Germany
Group Exhibition, Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama
グループ展「アートがあればⅡ −9人のコレクターによる個人コレクションの場合」東京オペラシティ アートギャラリー、東京
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8/TV/090 IN THE ARTIST’S STUDIO | YUKA KASHIHARA
CREDIT
Executive Creative Director : Kenmei Nagaoka (D&DEPARTMENT PROJECT)
Producer : Mitsuko Matsuzoe (D&DEPARTMENT PROJECT)
Director, Interview : Masaya Suzuki
Camera : Hirotatsu Koarai, Masaya Suzuki
Production Manager : Tatsuya Kawano