Artist statement
“Does literature have any meaning to the dying and famished child?”
This famous passage of Jean-Paul Sartre in 1964 left a significant impact on me as a naïve teenage girl in high school. This statement however continues to reside deep down in my consciousness as I practice my artistry to this day.
Conceptual art has been something I paid special interest in even before I move to the U.S in 1971. I was in awe when I actually witnessed the exhibition of Joseph Beuys, one of the leading artists focusing on “Art and Politics” at Guggenheim Museum in 1979. Their status of claiming their works as “Civil Sculpture” and raising controversial question and criticism towards society strongly resonated with my concept. I believe that politics is a social structure that cannot be ignored nor escape from. Yet for me, it felt as a burning physical sensation that needed to be freed and expressed. For many years, my effort has been to free this “physical sensation”, while I notice the whisper of Jean-Paul Sartre’s passage in the background.
In 1992, my life was interrupted by an unexpected event. Sudden mental episode struck me and kept me as a voyager of the unconscious and mysterious world for the next 10 years. This was the unimaginable and obscured world. Traveling through this world was absolutely horrifying, yet it was also filled with bizarre amusement, joy and marvels. This experience opened the door for me to unconscious, world of the unknown.
Since this experience, I began to feel an infinite expansion and sense of endlessness in my brain. This expansion enabled me to develop my interest in “How the brain sees such an unconscious and extraordinary world”. My recent works that focus on the brain are the state of my brain, and the drawings are representing the unconscious journey. I encounter them each day as I explore the infinite universe.
I express this “physical sensation” needing to be freed in my artistry, with its roots in the passage of Jean-Paul Sartre.
Experience
Education
1968 BA at Musashino Art University of Fine Art in Japan. Oil painting course
1976 – 1980
Pratt Institute Graphic Center
Studied Silk screen, Etching, Lithograph, Photo technic
Selected One Person Show
1980 Ginza Kaigakan Gallery in Tokyo Japan “Reciprocal Reflection”
2018 International Center of CCCS in New York. “Connecting to Inner Worlds”
Selected Group Exhibition
1969-1970 Annual Exhibition of National Women Artists Association in Tokyo Japan
1972 Union Carbide Japanese Artist Exhibition in New York
1979 Pratt Graphic Center Print Exhibition
1980 Yugoslavia International Print Biennale Exhibition
1984 NYU Small works
2012 〜2019 Participate in and Curate Various Show at Gallery Onetwentyeight NYC
2014 “Fridge Art Show” in Long Island City NY
2016 “WAH: Light, Form, and Symbol “at WAH Center. Brooklyn NY
2016 “Fridge Art Show” Angel Orensanz Center NYC
2016〜2019 “PEACE Exhibition]” International Center of CCCS
2017 SJAC (Society of Japanese and American Creators) Show, Gallery Max New York
2018 SJAC (Society of Japanese and American Creators) Show, Gallery Max New York
2019 Women Forward – Innovative women, at WAH Center
2019 participate in and Curate “New Japanese Horizon” Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
2020 “21st Annual WAH Salon Show” WAH Center, Brooklyn, NY
2020 Works Created During the “Lockdown” Period. WAH Center. Brooklyn, NY
2021 “PEACE Ehibition”, Japanese –American Association, NYC, NY
2021 “ Togetherness & Oneness” WAH Center, Brooklyn, NY
2021 The Yuko Nii Foundation's permanent collection from three consecutive exhibition related to the COVID-19 pandemic. WAH Center, Brooklyn NY
2022 NY CONNECTION 2022, Gallery SIACCA, Tokyo Japan
2022 Women Forward – Innovation women, part 3, WAH Center, Brooklyn , NY
2019-2022 SJAC, Tenri Gallery New York
2023 NY CONNECTION 2023, Gallery SIACCA, Tokyo Japan
Permanent Collection
Yuko Nii Foundation (WAH Center) Brooklyn, NY
Adam D. Weinberg (Director of Whitney Museum of American Art) Collection
Awards
1969 Kusakabe Award, National Women artists Association in Japan
1979 Pratt Institute Graphic Center, Honorable Mention
Bibliography/Publication
2019 “Women Forward – Innovative Women” Williamsburg Art & Historical Center
2019 “New Japanese Horizon” Williamburg Art & Historical Center
2008 With the pen name of 栗州美会子“Odyssey, 遙かなる憧憬” (Aspiration Far and Beyond) Sogen Publisher, Osaka Japan
2023 “多文化都市ニューヨークを生きる“ （Living in the multicultural City of New York) Kadensha Publisher, Tokyo Japan
Review
2022 By “Williamsburg Arta & Historical Center” WOMEN FORWARD – Women Artist Who Helped Us Grow.