ARTWORKS
PAINTNG / INSTALLATION

DOWNLOAD THE PORTFOLIO (via Dropbox)



page top

ART & DESIGNWORKS
2015 TAKASHIMAYA YUKATA COLLCTION, Textile designed by Syoh Yoshida


Client : Takashimaya Co.,Ltd. (Japan)
Creative direction : ATA Co.,Ltd.
Art director, Designer : Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA)

Copyright © Takashimaya Co.,Ltd.
Copyright © ATA Co.,Ltd.
Copyright © CHIKUSEN CO.,Ltd.
Copyright © Syoh Yoshida, 2015


page top

ART & DESIGN CONFERENCE
TOKYO GRAPHIC PASSPORT 2014 IN NEW YORK

Client: +81, D.D.WAVE Co.,Ltd.
Period: Wendsday, March 12 – Friday, April 25, 2015
Venue: +81 GALLERY MANHATTAN, and more.
Open Hours: 12:00-19:00
Reception: Saturday, March 15, 12:00-19:00

Copyright © +81, D.D.WAVE Co.,Ltd.


page top

ART & DESIGN CONFERENCE
NIT - Network, Idea & Identity, Technology

Client: Nit west
Speaker : Shun Kawakami (artless Inc.), Syoh Yoshida (artless Inc. / SYOH YOSHIDA)
Organizer, Moderator : Subaru Matsukura (Obaqe Inc.)
Staff : Hiroko Nakano, Takeshi Watamura, Yuji Hikino, Shuichi Kawanami
Venue: HOTEL ANTEROOM KYOTO
Admission: ¥3,500 (cash on drink)
Capacity: 50

Copyright © Nit west


page top

ART & DESIGNWORKS
SYOH YOSHIDA'S EXHIBITION - DISTANT PROMISE / Total Art Direciton, Design


Client : Harbour City Estates Limited (Hong Kong)
Art direction, Design : Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA)
Marketing, Art deveopment officer : Norma Y.T. Tang (Harbour City)
Assistant marketing, Art deveopment officer : Vicki W.Y. Wong (Harbour City), Chloe F.C. Fong (Harbour City)
Project management : Yung MA (Para/Site Art Space), Dominique Perregaux (Art Statements)

Copyright © SYOH YOSHIDA All rights reserved.
Copyright © Harbour City Estates Limited All rights reserved.


page top

ART & DESIGNWORKS
GROUP EXHIBITION - FANATIC MONOCHROME™ / Total Art Direciton, Design


Client : spaceB, Comprehensive Educational Research Suppoort Center, Faculty of Art and Design, The Osaka Seikei University
Art direction, Design : Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA)
Project management : Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA), Kenji Kondo (spaceB)

Copyright © SYOH YOSHIDA All rights reserved.
Copyright © spaceB All rights reserved.


page top

ART & DESIGNWORKS
SYOH YOSHIDA'S EXHIBITION - BEATIFUL THING / Total Art Direciton, Design

Client : spaceB, Comprehensive Educational Research Suppoort Center, Faculty of Art and Design, The Osaka Seikei University
Art direction, Design : Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA)
Project management : Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA), Kyoko Shota (spaceB), Mari Kusaki (spaceB)

Copyright © SYOH YOSHIDA All rights reserved.
Copyright © spaceB All rights reserved.


page top

ART & DESIGNWORKS
SYOH YOSHIDA / Artist Book Design


Art director, Designer, Photographer : Syoh Yoshida
Text : Chiho Sakai, Mari Kusaki and Syoh Yoshida
Translated by Stanley N. Anderson
Paperback: 64pages
Product Dimensions: H210xW148xD10mm
First Printing: Sep,19 2007 (Limited:500)
Printed Privately


page top

ART & DESIGNWORKS
Kawashima Yukata Collection / Total Art Direciton, Design


Client : Kawashima Selkon Textiles Co., Ltd. (Kyoto, Japan)
Producer : Mutsumi Tsuzaki
Creative director, Designer : Takashi Tanimoto
Art director, Designer : Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA)
Yukata Textile Designer : Takashi Tanimoto, Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA)
Photographer : Ai Hirano
Stylist : Miyuki Tahara
Model : Aika Kim

Copyright © Kawashima Selkon Textiles Co., Ltd.


page top

ART & DESIGNWORKS
BMW ART CAR / Concept llustration for BMW M6 Cabriolet


Client : BMW Japan Corp. (Tokyo, Japan)
Art direction, Design : Syoh Yoshida (SYOH YOSHIDA)

Copyright © SYOH YOSHIDA All rights reserved.
Copyright © BMW Japan Corp. All rights reserved.


page top

PHILOSOPHY / DRAWING


To create art that blends into the natural scenery and landscape, works of art that are part of everyday life; such has been the creative vision of Syoh Yoshida. He began his professional career as an artist in 2006. Upon holding his first solo exhibition, “Beautiful Thing”, he said, unequivocally, “ I would like for the audience to see my work not as a part of a picture but how it exists as part of a given space.” Since then, he has created a number of unique art works while always keeping in mind how his works can be viewed as a component of a given space.

His decision to become an artist was the inevitable consequence of his aesthetic growth. As a small child, he enjoyed frequent visits to museums with his parents. At age nine, when he saw the works of Uemura Shoen, famed for her exquisite Japanese paintings, he was inspired to become a part of the world of fine art. He insists that he wishes to create works that are not overly assertive but elegant, works that blend naturally with their surroundings yet maintain their distinct existence. Such creative vision stems from the impression made upon him by Shoen’s drawing of a woman standing with dignity.

Yoshida’s forte, which is realistic descriptions of a motif, is grounded in highly accomplished sketching skills that he has nurtured since an early age. He also creates an impressive volume of monochrome photographs to support his skills. To create photorealistic works, looking themselves almost like monochrome pictures with strong color contrasts, he uses traditional Japanese art materials. Deep mesmerizing black is drawn with calligraphy ink “Shoenboku (pine tree chips + carbon + graphite)”, Glittering white like a radiant emission of light is created with “Gofun (powdered chalk/clamshells/calcium carbonate)”. In recent years, he has collaborated with a young artisan of frame designs in order to create paper scrolls and folding screens with a modern touch while maintaining the traditional mounting style.

Yoshida has made “Revival of East Asian Ink” his mission, which is why all of his works are monochromatic, although his primary creative form of expression is “painting” and is different from the traditional “drawing” style of art work prepared with ink. However, in both his painting style and the traditional drawing form, ink is the primary means of creation. These works reflect the modern aesthetics of an artist born in the ‘80s, while encapsulating the quintessential cultural “tradition.” In this sense, his works are organic fusions of tradition and contemporary.

Yoshida’s creative style is both contemporary and traditional-chic. Aesthetic philosophy consists of five elements; nature, installation (aesthetic use of space), tradition, respect, and quality. The beauty of controlled space that transcends time such as a traditional tatami room with old Japanese paintings on paper screens, items of superb craftsmanship, and furnishings is the source of Yoshida’s creative inspirations. People of the modern era can still fully enjoy the aesthetic beauty of the artistic installation at Buddhist temples and tea huts, established using perfected compositions and techniques.

Yoshida has been questioning the modern art scene where “Knowledge” takes precedence over “Aesthetics.” As such, he has been seeking to create works of art that reflect more primitive sensibilities such as Japanese regional cultural climates and life styles. In this manner, he explores ways to create works that can be viewed as “objects” in daily life. Inspired by nature and natural landscapes, he creates motifs of symbolic variations of his inspiration, expressing them in his controlled monotone world. Yoshida’ art proposes a way of life, an aesthetic use of space, that are the most essential elements that anyone might need. His motifs offer indispensable components to contemporary sustainable life styles and the modern art scene.




page top

WHAT IS BEAUTY ?


“Tatazumu”(to stand still) - i.e., to be fused with the environment

A perfected “object” is not overly assertive and is blended into the surrounding environment as part of the landscape.

What is “Art” ?
For artists, it is the pursuit of new beauty.
For viewers, it can enrich their lives and bring serenity to their minds.

In our daily lives, “objects” are created through our practical experiences.
Objects function as indispensable parts, or as inseparable elements, of architecture, and they silently speak out their “raison d’ être”.
In the beginning, objects have “function.” When their function is fulfilled, we pursue their “beauty.”

To focus solely on the pursuit of “beauty” may itself be called an innovative form of “beauty.” I think that the creation of new “beauty” through dialogues with one’s innermost self the “infinite quest for beauty, approached philosophically” - is “art.”

However, I believe that the quintessence of beauty is to be found in the “comprehensive designs” of everyday tools and furniture.
In Japan, from antiquity to the Edo period, “beauty” was found in the tools and objects we use in our everyday lives. The “artistic value” of such beauty existed in perfected “objects” insofar as they reflected our unique culture and style; it did not lie in the artist’s “message” or in the workmanship. We may find such “beauty” in the mlange of function and beauty, the perfect “artlessness” (the quality of being completely natural, with no artistic skills having been applied intentionally), represented in the brilliant design of a lacquer ware.
Such “object” transcends the realm of human craftsmanship and proclaims its existence, as though it has been there since the time immemorial.
Such is a totally different kind of provocativeness from what can be found in powerfully subjective contemporary art.
I think that the “beauty” of an “object” is embodied in the inorganic, emotionless character of crafts.

The value of “objects” is created out of the experiences of daily life. After all, “objects” should be viewed as part of daily life. The traditional Japanese aestheticism of “okuyukashii” (modest elegance, reserved and refined), “wabi” (plain and serene) and “sabi” (worn by the passage of time) blossomed during the Edo period after having been nurtured through thousands years of Japanese history. I think we can find the answer for the artistic “beauty” of workmanship in these aesthetic senses.

My concept of beauty may appear to be a stubborn and exaggerated reminiscence of the “good old days.” However, as we live in a time of a seamless and global world, I claim that, rather than seeking culture in old “objects,” we must find “tradition,” understood as the sublimation of culture, in newly created art.

Text by Syoh Yoshida
Translated by Mayumi Yoshida (Ph.D., East Asian Languages, University of California, Berkeley)


page top

WHITE LAKE


A pair of vertical scrolls depicting blossoming flowers. One does not see a simple flower garden there. Flowers are clustered together, blossoming atop one another, with different types that would never blossom together in actual wilderness. In some places, they “unnaturally” blossom over others, as though hiding the others’ existence.

The vertical scroll is a traditional art format in East Asia. For artists of the 21st century, it is not a symbol of the “Japanese element” but a tool that challenges us to form new imaginative structures. Each flower in "White Lake" is designed from various pictures that have been digitized. Yoshida reconstructed these digital sketches on a computer screen to create a preliminary sketch. He then fashioned pictures with different angles of light and directions to the flowers (sketches), creating a vertical perspective from top to bottom. This process is identical with the authentic way of creating traditional oriental paintings. Flowers depicted in this way blossom, while visual perspective is preserved.

Yoshida uses only black pine soot based ink (shōen boku) and white shell powder based pigment (gofun) to create monochrome paintings. Black and white create a polar contrast of light and dark. For viewers, the deep black of pine soot based ink and the bright white of shell powder based pigment further accentuate the polar contrast, as though the black transmutes into the darkness associated with negative emotions, while the white acts as an absolute expression of positive emotion. Between the poles of Yoshida’s black and white, there exists only a subtle gradation of whites, rather than random tones of color.
Distinctions that symbolize distance, light, and shades, and dimensional relations are the basic grammar of Eastern paintings. Here, Yoshida boldly challenges such tradition.

The deep blacks and sparking whites are the effects of the silk material Yoshida uses. Initially, he drew on paper, but now, he claims that the subtle, neutral tones of color that the silk creates, and the matte sensations created by these colors, which are attractive to the human eye, cannot be duplicated in any medium but silk. In contrast to Western paintings, in which layers of paint support the tonal effect of color from the bottom up, blank ink permeates Yoshida's material. As the ink becomes one with the silk, it draws viewers into a world of darkness. And silk may be the only material that makes it possible for the white shell powder based pigment to "declare" its presence.

Yoshida named his pair of scrolls, as well as the title of his solo exhibitions, “The White Lake." Through his new medium, he challenges the tradition of Eastern painting. I believe that, heretofore, there has never been a work of Eastern painting in which white shell powder based pigment covers the entire scroll. Although the underlying image of flowers lurks in the painting, the painting also depicts a strong yearning for the surface of the water, sparkling in the bright light while encompassing the darkness at the bottom of the lake. In his later years, Claude Monet, in an allusion to Japanese painting, took up the challenge of depicting a water surface that covered an entire canvas in a vertically-long or round-shaped composition. Like Monet, Yoshida, who began his long journey of Japanese painting when he saw the works of Shoen Uemura, has been struggling to express his own kind of reality by exploiting new possibilities in the rich tradition of Eastern and Japanese painting.

First appearance: Recommendation for The 5th Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Award for Nikkei Nihonga Grand Prize - “White Lake" by Syoh Yoshida

Text by Yoshihiro Nakatani:
Curator of Nijyo Castle. Born in Nara in 1960. Graduated from Kwansei Gakuin University Graduate School, with a major in art. Curator at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art since 1987. Has held his current position since April 2010. Based on the history of museums in pre-modern Kyoto as well as on the history of exhibitions, Nakatani has been reconsidering the history of the systems of pre-modern Japanese art, with the aim of defining the significance of modern art expression. Currently, he is working on increasing the popular appeal of “protecting cultural properties.”

Translated by Mayumi Yoshida (Ph.D., East Asian Languages, University of California, Berkeley)


page top

Like Suddenly Noticing That the Season Has Changed


When I spend time with students studying art in college, my heart sometimes goes out to them as it might to a lost child. This is because I often see how they hesitate as they try to decide how to approach the creation of art in today’s world, where new developments have broken down the barriers between different forms of art and many new techniques and types of art have been added to such old divisions as painting, design, and craft. The great task of the artist today is to freely express his or her ideas and concepts, and this is much harder than creating art under set conditions of technique or medium as in traditional drawing or modeling. In today’s art environment, surrounded by incredibly diverse examples of artwork, inundated by information on the techniques and materials that are possible means of expression, and confronted by endless choices, it is only natural that art students should be bewildered and not know what to do with so much freedom.

Not just the students but all of us live in the sea of information pouring from the many forms of mass media around us and causing us to lose our grasp of reality. I sometimes feel sorry for young people because it is almost inevitable that they will find it difficult to find a focus for their artistic expression. Where should they turn? What should they do? It takes them a great deal of time to determine their direction as the possibilities of expression they are offered continue to expand and proliferate, keeping them turning this way and that. Because I often see young people who are confused, drifting like small boats tossed on the waves of the open sea, Sho Yoshida stands out as quite a different kind of young artist.

I am not sure if I ever saw him while he was still in school. It was not until I visited the studio where he works recently that I found that he spends most of everyday in the studio and has a very calm and steady personality in spite of his youth. I believe that this serious attitude has made it possible for him to maintain focus in his artistic expression.

When I first visited Yoshida’s studio, I saw a number of books of reproductions of Japanese-style paintings on the desk where his art materials and brushes were neatly arranged. He showed me catalogues of exhibitions by Uemura Shoen and Ito Shoha that he had seen as an elementary school student, explaining how he had been captivated by the beauty of the female figures in their paintings, especially the glowing, finely textured, translucent skin and hair. He told me what a vivid and moving experience it had been to see these paintings in the space of the museum at the time and how this had an important effect on his creative work.
He greatly enjoyed making copies of the paintings he actually saw as a young boy and tried to paint the same images as realistically as possible. Seeing transparent things expressed transparently had a tremendous emotional effect on him, and his current work is based on this early experience. The objects he paints are momentary fragments of landscapes that he has actually seen.
His paintings are composed with only two tones, black and white. With these limited colors, he paints night scenes with lights glowing in faraway houses and transparent drops of water that seem to be on the verge of falling. He captures moments of perception of invisible things, such as flowing water and air or particles floating in the air, transferring these phenomena to the canvas just as they are and revealing the beauty of these ephemeral moments.

Yoshida uses a glossy pine-soot black and also creates a matte black by erasing. His blacks are endlessly flat and do not show shadows or depth, but one can see a slightly blue translucence emanating from the thinly applied layers. Looking at his paintings, one experiences a moment when a white motif suddenly rises out of the pure darkness. This effect, perhaps the most fascinating aspect of his work, is based on the special qualities of the media he uses, the media of Japanese-style painting.

Looking at Yoshida’s paintings, I suddenly think of words spoken by a mentor long ago: “Looking at the whole means to close your eyes. Looking at everything is the same as looking at nothing.” Our eyes always try to divide the things we see into figure and ground. The form that becomes the focus of attention pushes everything else into the background so that the things outside of it become ground and appear hazy and indistinct.
In spite of this tendency of vision, the darkness that Yoshida paints entirely in black, which might be described as a world of nothingness, is clearly not what it seems. Certainly, when we move closer or pull back, changing the angle or distance of vision, as when looking through the viewfinder of a camera to focus a picture, the flowers depicted in the painting or the effects of light change and take on a rich variety of appearances. At the same time, however, the forms of images painted with glittering white gofun pigment create a sense of space, extending back into the depths that envelop them in the flat darkness that would ordinarily be relegated to the background. Rather than describing this as a sense of spatial depth, it would be more fitting to say that we are shown an infinite flow of time with a lyrical quality that appears suddenly in a world of darkness. We sense a misty atmosphere that is like transparent particles in space.

Yoshida is constantly concerned with the issue of nihonga (Japanese-style painting) in his art. He thinks about the intricately combined temporal factors of style, culture, and historical periods of art as well the techniques and materials that differ from those of Western-style oil painting, and pays special attention to the word nihonga itself, a word that cannot be simply defined or described. What is nihonga? This form of art is at the foundation of Yoshida’s creative work, but he does not recognize most of the individual works of art that are referred to by this word today as true nihonga. He sees them as something completely different from the paintings cultivated historically in traditional schools like the Hasegawa-ha or Kano-ha. In his strict definition, nihonga is identified with the process by which ancient traditions are transmitted in the context of Japanese culture, the role of artists and techniques developed in a master and disciple relationship, and the individual development of creativity and sublimation of expression on the basis of tradition. Although he loves and respects this historical development of Japanese-style painting, he rejects the classification of his own work as nihonga simply because of the materials and techniques he uses. His attitude is marvelously sincere, very critical of the artists of his own time and strictly honest in questioning the meaning of nihonga.

So what does he think of his own work in relation to present circumstances?
“I want to make paintings that are unified with the space and the air of the place, as if it were as natural for them to be in someone’s living space as the chairs and tables that are used every day.” When I first visited the place where he works, I felt that this very causal statement, spoken so simply that it might have failed to attract notice, directly conveyed the ideas and values that he emphasizes in his work, leading toward something profound.

In describing his work, we might use the Japanese phrase, ki no okenai, meaning that it does not force itself into our awareness. We do not ordinarily problematize the existence of things in our immediate surroundings. It would be impossible to live with an awareness of all the meanings of things that exist. In the field of design, this is an important issue, since it is desirable to design things so that they fit into and function in a living space without our being aware of them. In everyday life, indispensible tools and techniques must function without people being aware of them every time they pick them up. Works of art, however, transcend everyday life through deliberate human acts that make them different from practical tools and techniques. They are separated from the hand and observed from a distance. The freed imagination and beauty that the artist puts into his or her paintings is quietly contemplated. I believe that the attitude advocated by Yoshida appears clearly in his art. He puts effects of softly flowing air into it that do not enter conscious awareness but blend in with other phenomena that we experience in present time such as real light or mist. These effects are casual and subtle, so that the viewer becomes aware of them at an unexpected moment, as if suddenly noticing that the transition from one season to the next has already taken place. Yoshida’s captivating paintings are remarkable for their temporal boldness and spatial fragility and their lack of ostentation. He will undoubtedly continue to develop these qualities, and on a personal level I have great expectations of this young artist.


First appearance: SYOH YOSHIDA 01 / May, 2007

Text by Chiho Sakai:
Chiho is a free-lance art writer who has published numerous articles in art magazines such as Art iT and Bijutsu Techo.

Translated by Stanley N. ANDERSON


page top

EXHIBITIONS

Copyright © Tokyo Graphic Passport

Copyright © +81

Copyright © D.D.WAVE Co.,Ltd.

TOKYO GRAPHIC PASSPORT 2014 IN NEW YORK

Syoh Yoshida participates in "TOKYO GRAPHIC PASSPORT 2014 IN NEW YORK" as a guest artist.

Period: Wendsday, March 12 – Friday, April 25, 2015
Venue: +81 GALLERY MANHATTAN, and more.
Open Hours: 12:00-19:00
Reception: Saturday, March 15, 12:00-19:00

Organaizer: +81
Management: D.D.WAVE Co.,Ltd.

Inquiry:
+81 GALLERY MANHATTAN
167 Elizabeth Street New York, NY 10012
URL: http://www.plus81.com
E-MAIL: plus81NY@dd-wave.co.jp


TOKYO GRAPHIC PASSPORT

The first round of Tokyo Graphic Passport in NY opens by a presentation and exhibitions. We invite Japanese creators and hold a presentation at IRIS & B.GERALD CANTOR / FILM CENTER NYU, for the first time together, who are prominent among the creative scene in Japan and the world. The event 2014 is parts a project to spread Japan's modern art, design and other cultural information around the world according to a concept of aesthetic sense, regardless of genre, and with a main focus on the emerging generation.


DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT







page top

EXHIBITIONS

Copyright © ART FAIR TOKYO Co., Ltd.
Copyright ©Japan Fashion Week Organization
Copyright © Mainichi Broadcastiong System Inc.

ART FAIR TOKYO 2013

Period: Friday, March 22 – Sunday, March 24, 2013
Venue: Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo
BOOTH: No.F08, imura art gallery

Open Hours Day 1: Friday, March 22, 11:00am-9:00pm
Open Hours Day 2: Saterday, March 23, 11:00am-8:00pm
Open Hours Day 3: Sunday, March 24, 10:30am-5:00pm
First Choice: Thursday, March 21 (Invitees only)

Admission:
1-DAY Free Pass: 2,000 yen (tax included)
3-DAY Free Pass: 3,500 yen (tax included)
Children below elementary school are free

Organaizer: ART FAIR TOKYO Committee
Management: ART FAIR TOKYO Co., Ltd.

Inquiry:
I.S.E bldg. 4F 3-8-8 Negishi Taito-ku
Tokyo 110-0003 Japan
TEL: +81-(0)3-5808-1452
FAX: +81-(0)3-5808-1452
URL: www.artfairtokyo.com/en/
E-MAIL: info@artfairtokyo.com


INTERLOCKING EVENTS

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week TOKYO
TOKYO RUNWAY


DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT







page top

EXHIBITIONS

Copyright © Shibuya Hikarie, 2012
Copyright © Syoh Yoshida, 2012
MEME Key-visual by Syoh Yoshida

MEME | Genes of Culture in Art:
Exploration of Tradition, Technique and Modernity in Calligraphy, Copperplate Prints, and Japanese Paintings

Period: Wed, Nov 28, - Mon, Dec 10, 2012
Venue: 8/02 CUBE 1,2,3, 8th floor, Shibuya Hikarie, Tokyo
Open: 11:00am-20:00pm
Close: Open every day during the exhibition
Admission: Free
Reception: Fri, Nov 30, 2012, 18:00-20:00pm
Organaizer: imura art gallery
Project Director and Curator: Syoh Yoshida


ABOUT 8/

This space is being born to create the kind of phenomena that Roppongi, Ginza or Aoyama cannot seem to create. Like an office, a café, a gallery, or even a shop... all these elements are blended together into this new space. Taking advantage of its perfect location, which has direct access from the “Shibuya station,” a massive terminal where some 3 million people come and go every day, the new space will allow us to explore the possibilities of new types of artistic creations through Shibuya-style exchanges. The creative space that shares “the same DNA” of its predecessor, the Tokyu Bunka Kaikan. Its name is “8/”... It will go into action on the 8th floor of Shibuya Hikarie. (extracts from 8/ | Hikarie 8th Floor)


PREFACE

Clinton Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, invented the term MEME, referring to “genes of culture”. That is, just as genes of earth’s creatures have evolved through continuous reproduction, transmission, mutation, and natural selection, human customs and habits as well as culture are transmitted, developed and handed down to future generations through reproduction and mimicking.
This exhibition, entitled, MEME Genes of Culture in Art – Exploration of Tradition, Technique and Modernity in Calligraphy, Copperplate Prints, and Japanese Painting, highlights the MEME of the works by young artists who have mastered the traditional techniques of scriptures and calligraphy, copperplate prints, or Japanese paintings, all of which have its long history and tradition. Their works are embodiments of ambition for innovative expression of their artistic aestheticism, the representation of their MEME that can survive the natural selection while still maintaining extremely details of expressions as seen in traditional artisan work. We hope that this exhibition will be a new opportunity to reconsider the definitions and recognition of modern calligraphy, woodblock prints, and Japanese paintings.


ARTISTS

Calligraphy and Ink Art / Gen Miyamura
Copperplate Prints / Arata Nojima
Japanese Paintings / Syoh Yoshida


CONTACTING US

If you have a enquiries about any aspect of artwork or exhibition please contact to the here one of our representatives.


DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT

page top

EXHIBITIONS

Copyright © Nikkei Inc.
Copyright © The Ueno Royal Museum

The 5th Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Award
for Nikkei Nihonga Grand Prize

Period: Sat, May 18, ‒ Sun, June 3, 2012
Venue: The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo
Open: Monday-Sunday, 10:00am–17:00pm (Admission until 30 minutes before closing.)
Closed: Open daily except otherwise noticed.
Organaizer: Nikkei Inc. / The Ueno Royal Museum
Supporter: Nippon Express
Admission: Adult: ¥800 / Student (college, university): ¥500 / Child (until highschool): free
Contact: Cultural Affairs Department, Nikkei Inc. / Voice; +81-03-6256-7393


ABOUT AWARD

The Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Award for Nikkei Nihonga Grand Prize in Honor of Kaii Higashiyama was created five years ago to honor innovative Japanese painters who are leaders in the art world of the 21st century. This award honors the achievements of Kaii Higashiyama, the great master of Japanese painting. It also aims to promote the transmission of traditional Japanese painting, with its long history, while providing opportunities to objectively reassess the works of Japanese painters. In this way, we hope to discover talented young artists who, as leaders of a new generation in the world of the arts, are dedicated to the perfection of their own art. At the 5th Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Award, all thirty works, including the grand prize winner, will be exhibited at a single venue. We hope that you will enjoy the powerful creative energy and new attractions depicted by these energetic artists, who are venturing to pioneer their own creative worlds.


ARTISTS

Yusuke Asai / Takako Azami / Yuji Ichikawa / Sohei Iwata / Naoko Ushijima / Momoe Kjioka / Tomoyuki Kanbe / Kikuchi Takehiko / Amu Kubo / Konoike Tomoko / Shinji Sasaki / Seiji Sonoke / Masako Takebe / TakeshiTanaka / Taniho Reina / Akira Nagasawa / Juri Hamada / Hayashi Koji / Reiko Bando / Hirano Kentaro / Ikuyo Hirota / Hidenori Hajima / Kumi Machida / Natsunosuke Mise / Minami Satoshi / Hiromichi Miyajima / Miki Mori / Tomoki Moriyama / Taro Yamamoto / Syoh Yoshida


DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT

page top

EXHIBITIONS

Art Direction, Design: Syoh Yoshida

Copyright © Syoh Yoshida, 2011

Copyright © spaceB, 2011

FANATIC MONOCHROME™
Exploration of Monochrome Expressions Through Art.

Period: Mon, Octorber 17, ‒ Sat, November 5, 2011
Venue: spaceB, Kyoto
Open: Mon - Fri, 12:00pm‒6:30pm / Sat, 12:00pm‒17:00pm
Closed: On Sundays
Organaizer: Faculty of Art and Design, Osaka Seikei University
Planner: PAINT: LAB., Faculty of Arts, Osaka Seikei University
Supporter: Imura Art Gallery
Admission: Free
Project Director and Curator: Syoh Yoshida


ABOUT spaceB

Each of the five research institutes under the Osaka Seikei University Faculty of Art and Design and Comprehensive Educational Research Center (Basic Design and Education Arts Center, Information Technology Center, Plastic Art Factory, Art Center, and Illustration Factory) has been involved in various creative and research endeavors since 2006. The Art Center has been conducting comprehensive, state-of-the-art research relating to arts, and has also been actively involved in production of art works and education of the students. We are committed to contribute to the development of our university through our research results and creative works. Our school, Faculty of Art and Design has been striving to improve culture and art by reaching out to local community, and expanding our influence both nationally and internationally. We hold unique exhibitions at the campus gallery “spaceB” . We not only exhibit works by our faculty and staff but also solicit creative works from our students. Without restricting our view to any particular genre, we exhibit a wide variety of works including those that are targeted to general audience, more contemporary, avant-garde works, and works by our students. We sponsor seminars and workshops open to the public as well.


PREFACE

This exhibition is a project by Mr. Syoh Yoshida, lecturer faculty of the Department of Fine Art, The Osaka Seikei University. As the title “FANATIC MONOCHROME™ | Exploration of Monochrome Expressions Through Art.” represents, we focus on artistic expressions using “black and white = light and shadows.” Monochrome has been used for centuries as fundamental axis of color schemes and expressions in paintings, photographs and two dimensional images. It is our hope that this exhibition can provide a new opportunity to think about the role of monochrome expressions in the history of art.


INTEGRATED THEME

Behind each work, there lies a common question, “how were monochrome expressions of art established and where are they going?” Color black that reminds us of darkness, has been associated with fear, disaster, death or mourning since ancient times. Throughout the long history of mankind, color black has been interpreted in a variety of images such as “religious aestheticism” that led to “technical innovation” in art. It was also associated with “political ideology” in certain historical period. Since after the 16th century, color black was associated with “modesty” “sternness” or “solemnity.” After the 19th century, it was actively used to create “fashion mode” and innovative “design.” As a result, the image of color black was transformed to become “aesthetically refined color.” This was also true in the world of fine arts. In each period of history, various possibilities using color black were explored with different medias. At this time, we will focus on the “2000’s” as it is the major transitional period of monochrome expressions in art. Therefore, at this exhibition, we hope to rethink the world of monochrome expressions in the eight fields selected by the creators, namely, graphics, pens, water color, calligraphy, ink painting, engraving, photography and images.


SELECTION OF WORKS

In order to symbolize the era of “2000’s” and to represent a close relation with the “changing history of monochrome expressions,” we focused on three factors; “history=sublimation of tradition,” “design =highly accomplished skills and creativity sense” and “Next generation artists = born in the 1970’s and 1980’s.” We selected the work from each genre based on these factors. The process of evaluation and selection from the perspectives of “history, design, and next generation” led us to think about the “multifaceted nature of monochrome expressions and their continuity.” As a result, we realized how fanatically people have been pursuing unique expressions through artistic creativity using black and white. Thus, we decided to call this exhibition, “FANATIC MONOCHROME”


ARTISTS

Graphics, Images / Shun Kawakami
Pens / Kei Hirokawa
Engraving / Arata Nojima
Water Color / Yoshimi Miyamoto
Calligraphy / Gen Miyamura
Photography / Ryuhei Yokoyama
Ink Painting / Syoh Yoshida


DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT

page top

EXHIBITIONS

Copyright © Syoh Yoshida, 2014
ÙNCLÁSSIFIABLE Key-visual by Syoh Yoshida

THE 9TH SYOH YOSHIDA’S EXHIBITION:
ÙNCLÁSSIFIABLE
Exploration of Unclassified Japanese Painting

Perface: More exhibition information coming soon.


DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT

page top

SYOH YOSHIDA PROFILE
ARTIST, PINTER

1984 Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Currently, Lives and works in Kyoto, Japan.

Graduated from Seian College of Art and Design, Department of Artcraft, majoring in Japanese paintings in 2004. Completed graduate course at Osaka Seikei University Faculty of Art and Design with emphasis on Japanese paintings in 2008. While still in college, Yoshida began to develop unique monochrome style paintings using “ink (carbon black)” and “white pure powdered pigments”(calcium carbonate)” traditionally used for Japanese paintings.

He began his professional career in 2004 and held the first solo exhibition, “Beautiful Thing” in 2006 at spaceB in Kyoto. Yoshida’s artistic engagement spans out into various fields. For example, he is a Yukata pattern designer in demand for Kawashima Selkon Textiles Company Ltd., an old kimono merchant in Kyoto with 160 years of history. In 2008, he held a solo exhibition “Night Trace” at Takashimaya department in Shijuku and “Distant Promise” at Harbor City (Hong Kong). In 2009, his 8th solo exhibition, “White Lake” (JR Osaka Mitsukoshi Isetan, Osaka, 2011) was held.

His major honors and awards include “Kyoto Artcraft Biennale – New Wave”（The Museum of Kyoto, 2007）, and “11th Taro Okamoto Memorial Award for Contemporary Art” (Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum in Kawasaki, 2008). Living in Kyoto, Yoshida has been a prolific artist, who is proactively engaged in solo and group exhibits both in Japan and overseas. He is also an lecturer faculty at Osaka Seikei University Faculty of Art and Design (paintings) as of 2009.

DOWNLOAD THE PORTFOLIO (via Dropbox)

page top

CV


Syoh Yoshida:

1984 Born in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Education:
2008 Postgraduate Degree in Japanese Painting, Faculty of Art & Design, Osaka Seikei University
2006 Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Japanese Painting of Faculty of Art & Design, Osaka Seikei University
2004 Associate of Arts Degree in Japanese Painting of Seian Junior College of Art & Design

Solo Exhibitions:
2015 Water Ink, Nagoya Matsuzakaya, Aichi, Japan
2011 White Lake, JR Osaka Mitsukoshi Isetan, Osaka, Japan
2009 Insphere, Imura Art Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
2008 Distant Promise, Harbour City, Hong Kong
2008 Night Trace, Shinjuku Takashimaya, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Day full of rain, CASPER’S Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Day full of rain, Imura Art Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
2006 Dark Lake, CASPER’S Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Beautiful Thing, spaceB, Kyoto, Japan

Selected Group Exhibitions:
2015 Contemporary Japnese Ink Exhibition 2015 (Gendai-suiboku-sakka-ten), The National Art Center, Tokyo
2015 Chikusen - Yukata Exhibition (Takashimaya Nippon Monogatari Project), Takashimaya, (this exhibition was traveled throughout each Takashimaya department store), Japan
2015 Towards a Celebration of 400 Years of Rimpa School of Japanese Painting, The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
2014 Contemporary Japnese Ink Exhibition (Gendai-suiboku-sakka-ten), The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2013 AICHI TRIENNALE Partner Ship Exhibition | MATSUZAKAYA ART SELECTION | YAMATO DYNAMICS, Nagoya Matsuzakaya, Aichi, Japan
2013 ART FAIR TOKYO 2013, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan
2012 MEME | Genes of Culture in Art - Exploration of Tradition, Technique and Modernity in Calligraphy, Copperplate Prints, and Japanese Paintings, Shibuya Hikarie, Tokyo, Japan
2012 The 5th Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Award for Nikkei Nihonga Grand Prize, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2011 FANATIC MONOCHROME™ - Exploration of Monochrome Expressions Through Art, spaceB, Kyoto, Japan
2011 ISETAN JAPAN SENSES, Shinjuku Isetan, Tokyo, Japan
2010 BMW ART CAR, Hanshin BMW, Osaka, Japan
2009 ART FAIR TOKYO 2009, Tokyo International Forum & TOKYO BLDG.TOKIA.GALLERIA, Tokyo, Japan
2008 The 11th Taro Okamoto Memorial Award for Contemporary Art, Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan
2008 The 2th Art Exchange Exhibition of the Osaka Seikei Univ. and Chung-Ang Univ., Chung-Ang Univ., Seoul, Korea
2007 The Kyoto Artcraft Biennalet - New Wave, The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
2006 The Kyoto Art Center Summer Vacation Program - Under the Cloud, Kyoto art center, Kyoto, Japan
2006 Osaka Seikei University and Chung-Ang University Art Exchange Exhibition, TOPOHAUS GALLERY, Seoul, Korea
2005 The Panorama Painting Exhibition, Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Tokushima, Japan
2005 Beyond the Image, GALLERY WKS, Osaka, Japan
2005 ART BEAT KYOTO 2005, Rissei school, ART ZONE, Shinpukan, Kyoto, Japan
2004 ART UNIV. 2004, Campus plaza kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
2004 CANZUME, GALLERY MARONIE, Kyoto, Japan
2004 ALTERNATIVE MOOD OF YUZEN, Kyoto art center, Kyoto, Japan
2004 B-port, spaceB, Kyoto, Japan

Awards:
2015 Towards a Celebration of 400 Years of Rimpa School of Japanese Painting, Nominee
2012 The 5th Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Award for Nikkei Nihonga Grand Prize, Nominee
2007 The 11th Taro Okamoto Memorial Award for Contemporary Art, Nominee
2006 The Kyoto Artcraft Biennale – New Wave, Nominee
2005 InterMedia Research Center, Osaka Seikei University - Student Exhibition Plan Competition 2006, WINNER

Private/Public Collections:
1223 GENDAIKAIGA - Contemporary Painting Collection, Tokyo, Japan
TAKAHASHI COLLECTION - Contemporary Art Collection, Tokyo, Japan

Lectures:
2015 Water Ink, About the production process of the painting, Nagoya Matsuzakaya, Aichi, Japan
2011 FANATIC MONOCHROME™ - Exploration of Monochrome Expressions Through Art, spaceB, Kyoto, Japan
2011 Creative Conference, Nit west Vol.5, Theme: MONOCHROME, Hotel Anteroom Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
2009-Present, Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Design, Osaka Seikei University
2008 Current activity and the future prospects, Faculty of Art & Design, Osaka Seikei University, Kyoto, Japan
2008 About the production process of the painting, Harbour City, Hong Kong
2008 About an exhibition work and the future prospects, Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan
2007 About an exhibition work and the future prospects, Kyoto culture museum, Kyoto, Japan
2006 About the production process of the painting, Kyoto art center, Kyoto, Japan
2005 About the production process of the painting, Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Tokushima, Japan

Media:
2015 UTUKUSHII KIMONO (Quartely Japanese Kimono-style Magazin)/Feature articles/Yukata selection 50/p.15 /Hearst Fujingaho Co.,Ltd. (Japan)
2014 Gekkan Suibokuga (Monthly Ink Painting Magazin)/Feature articles/Report articles / Exhibition in New York, Chinese Ink Painting circumstances in Europe and America / p.91 / Syoh Yoshida / U-CAN Inc. (Japan)
2014 Gekkan Suibokuga (Monthly Ink Painting Magazin)/Feature articles/Front line of the Ink painting/pp.62-63/Kei Tatejima (Sato International Cultural Scholarship Foundation, The Sato Museum of Art)/U-CAN Inc. (Japan)
2013 Artcollectors (MonthlyMagazin)/exhibition guide/MATSUZAKAYA ART SELECTION/p.78/Seikatuno Tomosha (Japan)
2012 HITSPAPERTM (WebMagazin)/Art & Design - Feature articles/MEME | Genes of Culture in Art - Exploration of Tradition, Technique and Modernity in Calligraphy, Copperplate Prints, and Japanese Paintings/HITSME INC. (Japan)
2012 Nikkei Shimbun (DailyNewsPaper)/Feature articles/Finalists Announced forThe 5th Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Award for Nikkei Nihonga Grand Prize/NIKKEI INC. (Japan)
2011 artscape (WebMagazin)/Exhibition Review/FANATIC MONOCHROME/Chiho Sakai/DAI NIPPON PRINTING Co., Ltd. (Japan)
2011 Asahi Shimbun A+1 (DailyNewsPaper)/Exhibition guide/FANATIC MONOCHROME/Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
2011 HITSPAPER™ (WebMagazin)/Art & Design - Feature articles/FANATIC MONOCHROME/HITSPAPER INC. (Japan)
2011 Web Designing (MonthlyMagazin)/Feature articles/Web Designers Workstyle/Keigo Mohri/pp.94-95/
Mainichi Communications Inc. (Japan)
2011 OPENERS (WebMagazin)/Feature articles/ISETAN JAPAN SENSE/Nanayou Limited.
2011 artscape (WebMagazin)/Feature articles/In 2011, Vision of Arts/Chio Sakai/DAI NIPPON PRINTING Co., Ltd. (Japan)
2009 Shumi-no-Suibokuga (MonthlyMagazin)/Feature articles/p.92/U-CAN Inc. (Japan)
2009 KUNST Magazin Berlin (MonthlyMagazin)/Feature articles/Lost in Translation? - The Experience of a Western Art Collector in the Japanese Art Market./Steffi Weiss/pp.7-11/KUNST Magazin Berlin (Germany)
2009 LOHAS (MonthlyMagazin)/Feature articles/The Beauty of Contrasts/Ella Sun/pp.145-147/LOHAS /Modern Media (Chaina)
2008 Grateful Heart (No,13/MonthlyMagazin)/Feature articles/Promise of Future/Jeremy Yuen/p.134/Grateful Heart-Wonderful Grace Magnzine (Hong Kong)
2008 needs (Vol.17/FreePaper)/Exhibition guide/Sonia Cheung/Concierge Co.,Ltd. (Hong Kong)
2008 21st Century Business Herald (DailyNewsPaper)/Feature articles/Distant Promise/21st Century Business Herald Co.,Ltd. (Chaina)
2008 HongKong Nave (WebMagazin)/Exhibition guide/Yuka Tkazaki/Hong Kong Navi Co.,Ltd. (Hong Kong)
2008 Rayli (WebMagazin)/Feature articles/Distant Promise/Sunli/Rayli Co.,Ltd. (Chaina)
2008 Artcollector (No,314/MonthlyMagazin)/exhibition guide/p.90/Seikatuno Tomosha (Japan)
2008 Live Arts (WebMagazin)/BEAUTIFUL PAINTINGS/LIVE ARTS LTD. (Japan)
2008 Taro Okamoto Memorial Award for Contemporary Art 2008 /exhibition catalogue/P.5/Taro Okamoto Museum of Art (Japan)
2008 The 2th Art Exchange Exhibition of the Osaka Seikei Univ. and Chung-Ang Univ. /exhibition catalogue/P.15/Seoul Chung-Ang University (Korea)
2007 Yomiuri Shimbun (DailyNewsPaper)/Day full of rain/exhibition guide/Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
2007 City Living (Vol.364/FreePaper)/Pick Up Art/Kyoto Living Shimbun Inc. (Japan)
2007 Bijutunomado (MonthlyMagazin)/exhibition guide/P.168/Seikatuno Tomosha (Japan)
2007 Kyoto Art and Crafts New Star Selection 2007 /exhibition catalogue/p.10, pp.44-45/Kyoto culture museum (Japan)
2007 The Outlook Magazin (No,54/MonthlyMagazin)/England Cheng/pp.116-117/Modern Media (Hong-Kong)
2006 B# (Vol.3/exhibition catalogue)/Beautiful Thing/Syoh Yoshida/pp.74-79/spaceB by InterMedia Research Center (Japan)
2006 artscape (WebMagazin)/Under the Cloud/Hisako Hara/art scape (Japan)
2006 Kyoto Shimbun (DailyNewsPaper)/Under the Cloud/Ootagaki Minoru/Kyoto Shimbun (Japan)
2006 WAVE (No.9/FreePaper)/neccssary black/Kanou Junko/WAVE (Japan)
2006 Soup. (MonthlyMagazin)/Yukata & Natukimono Kikonashi BOOK 2006/Second page gravure, model: Aoi Miyazaki/p.2/Index Communications Corporation (Japan)
2006 PEELER (WebMagazin)/Beautiful Thing/Kusaki Mali/PEELER (Japan)
2006 The Art Exchange Exhibition of the Osaka Seikei Univ. and Chung-Ang Univ./exhibition catalogue/p.7/TOPOHAUS GALLERY (Korea)
2006 B# (The first issue/Exhibition catalogue)/B-port/Kyoko Shiota,Kusaki Mali/pp.128-135/spaceB by InterMedia Research Center (Japan)
2006 ART UNIV. 2004 (Exhibition catalogue)/p.22/Consoryium kyoto (Japan)
page top

MEDIA
RELATED TEXT

UTUKUSHII KIMONO
Quartely Japanese Kimono-style Magazin / Feature articles / Yukata selection 50
p.15
Hearst Fujingaho Co.,Ltd., Japan


page top

MEDIA
RELATED TEXT

Gekkan Suibokuga (Monthly Ink Painting Magazin)
Report articles / Exhibition in New York, Chinese Ink Painting circumstances in Europe and America
pp.91
Syoh Yoshida
U-CAN Inc., Japan

page top

MEDIA
INTERVIEW WITH SYOH YOSHIDA

Gekkan Suibokuga (Monthly Ink Painting Magazin)
Feature articles: Front line of the Ink painting
Interviewer: Kei Tatejima (Sato International Cultural Scholarship Foundation, The Sato Museum of Art)
pp.62-63
U-CAN Inc., Japan


page top

MEDIA
INTERVIEW WITH SYOH YOSHIDA

LOHAS
Feature articles: The Beauty of Contrasts
Interviewer: Ella Sun (Modern Media)
pp.145-147
Modern Media, Chaina


page top

MEDIA
RELATED TEXT

KUNST Magazin
0905
Feature articles: Lost in Translation? - The Experience of a Western Art Collector in the Japanese Art Market.
Interviewer: Steffi Weiss
pp.7-11
KUNST Magazin, Berlin, Germany


page top

MEDIA
INTERVIEW WITH SYOH YOSHIDA

Grateful Heart
Feature articles: Promise of Future
Interviewer: Jeremy Yuen
p.134
Grateful Heart, Wonderful Grace Magnzine, Hong Kong


page top

MEDIA
RELATED TEXT

Soup.
MonthlyMagazin / Yukata & Natukimono Kikonashi BOOK 2006
Second page gravure, model: Aoi Miyazaki
p.2
Index Communications, Japan


page top

MEDIA
INTERVIEW WITH SYOH YOSHIDA

The Outlook Magazine
No,54
Feature articles: Life Experience - Go for Art.
Interviewer: England Cheng (Modern Media)
pp.116-117
Modern Media, Chaina


page top

CONTACT LIST

If you have a enquiries about any aspect of artwork please contact to the following one of our representatives.


For art & design work enquiries:

SYOH YOSHIDA | Meeting Room
E-mail: Syoh Yoshida | Art Director, Artist, Painter
570-210 Gion-machi Minami-gawa ,Higashi-yama-ku, KyotoZEN-2F OFFICE 4




For artwork sales enquiries:


imura art gallery
E-mail: Aki Miyake
Voice: +81-75-761-7372
Website: www.imuraart.com
Open: Tuesday–Saturday, 12pm–20pm
Address: 31, Kawabata Higashi Marutamachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8395, Japan

+81 GALLERY – NEW YORK
167 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY 10012
E-mail: Eri Takane | Director
Voice: 646-524-7171
Website: http://www.plus81.us
Open: Thursday–Sunday, 11pm–6pm

Harbour City Estates Limited
E-mail: Norma Y.T. Tang | Marketing & Art Development Officer
Voice: +852-2118-8008
Website: www.harbourcity.com.hk
Open: Monday-Sunday, 10am–10pm
Address: Suite 812, 8/F., Tower 6, The Gateway, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Gallery by The Harbour
Website: www.harbourcity.com.hk
Open: Monday-Sunday, 10am–10pm
Address: Level 2, Ocean Center, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong



page top

RECRUITMENT




































Copyright ©Syoh Yoshida, 2008-2013.

Bookmark and Share