BIOGRAPHY

Ayumi OKITA

Born in 1994 in Okayama, Japan. Lives and works in Ishikawa.

Ayumi Okita creates paintings using lacquer as a medium. Viewing lacquerbeing the sap of plants—as a substance that undergoes changes beyond the creator’s expectations, Okita perceives it as a mediator between humans and nature, reflecting on the relationships between human and non-human entities. Okita refers to the reciprocal interaction between the creator’s actions and the responses of lacquer as a “collaborative creation,” expanding their focus to the interplay between human activity and the inseparable natural environment.

In 2018, Okita graduated from the Department of Oil Painting at Kanazawa College of Art. In 2020, they completed the Master’s program in the Department of Crafts at the same institution. In 2024, Okita completed the doctoral program in the Art Research Department at Kanazawa College of Art. They were also dispatched as an exchange student to the Academy of Art & Design, Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) in 2016 and 2024.

Selected exhibitions include “Blessings Travel Through Wounds” (Kuma Foundation Gallery, Tokyo, 2024), “For the Breathing Things in the Darkness of Caves” (BUoY, Kitasenju, Tokyo, 2024), and “Condensing Forests” (galleria PONTE, Ishikawa, 2022), among others.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Solo Exhibitions

"Eggs Borne on Branches, Fruits Not Yet Dissolved" galleria PONTE (IShikawa/ Japan)
"A Quiet Garden and Secrets" Kanazawa Youyo (IShikawa/ Japan)

"Bearing Calendars, Consuming Seeds" Shirasagi art (IShikawa/ Japan)
"Blessings Flow Through the Wounds" KUMA foundation gallery (Tokyo/ Japan)
"For Those Who Dwell in the Darkness of the Cave" BUoY Arts Center Tokyo (Tokyo/ Japan)

“Pass through the palm of my hand” Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum (Kanazawa/ Japan)
“Forest with condensation” galleria PONTE (Kanazawa/ Japan)

4weeksselection “Come on, fly around in here” KANAZAWA CRAFTS HIROSAKA (Kanazawa/ Japan)

“Lacquer panting, Continue to breathe” HISHIO – Centre for Cultural Exchange (Okayama/ Japan)

Group Exhibitions

"Tell me why" New Gallery (Tokyo・Japan)｜Curated by Masaaki Iriszwa and Akira Aoki
"The 17th Exhibition of Selected Works of the I Prize for the Development of New Artists  in Okayama Prefecture" TENJINYAMA CULTURAL PLAZA OF OKAYAMA PREFECTURE (Okayama/ Japan)

"Ayumi Okita Sakamoto Nanary Takano Shion Whiteout" VACANT ROOM (Tokyo/ Japan)
"Surface of Desire"SISOUL.S Exhibition at MEDEL GALLERY SHU (Tokyo/ Japan)
"The 3rd BUG ART AWARD Finalists Exhibition" Art Center BUG (Tokyo/ Japan)
"And, Another Time."	gallery You (Toyama/ Japan)

"Long Night Art Festival: Prologue" Old Town, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture (Shiga/ Japan)
"Figurative ⇔ Abstract — The moment or impetus in painting where the figurative transforms into the abstract, or vice versa" ASTER Curator Museum (Ishikawa/ Japan)｜Curated by  Hiroki Yamamoto
"Fermentation Culture Art Festival Kanazawa – A Journey to Sensing the Invisible" Kanazawa and Tsurugi City (Ishikawa/ Japan)
"Inheritance and Transcendence: Lianfu Contemporary Lacquer Painting (International) Invitational Exhibition"  Xiamen Lianfu Art Museum (Xiamen/ China)
“A GRADUATE  EXHIBITION SELECTED BY ARTGUMMI” KANAZAWA ARTGUMMI (Kanazawa/ Japan)　
“KANAZAWA COLLEGE OF ART GRADUAION WORKS 2024" 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Kanazawa/ Japan)
“The 16th Exhibition of Selected Works of the I Prize for the Development of New Artists in Okayama Prefecture” TENJINYAMA CULTURAL PLAZA OF OKAYAMA PREFECTURE (Okayama/ Japan)

“ploonet” Shiinoki Cultural Complex (Ishikawa/ Japan)
“Uchinada Struggle: Memories of Wind and Sand”  Uchinada Town Museum of History and Folklore: Wind and Sand Museum/ Ruins of Uchinada U.S. Military Test Firing Range/ Ruins of Landing Site Observation Station (Ishikawa/ Japan)
“The 30th Scholarship Art Exhibition” The Sato Museum of Art (Tokyo/ Japan)

“The New Power of Lacquer” Matsuzakaya Nagoya ( Aichi / Japan)
“URUSHI HEYA” Gallery muku (Ishikawa/ Japan)
“The 13th Exhibition of Selected Works of the I Prize for the Development of New Artists in Okayama Prefecture” OKAYAMA CITY MUSEUM (Okayama/ Japan)

“KUMA EXHIBITION 2019” Spiral Garden (Tokyo/Japan)

“AIZU URUSHI ARTFESTIVAL Lacquer:Possibilities and Futures” Gallery Abdu (Fukushima/ Japan)
“Selection of graduation/completion works 2018” Research Institute of Art & Design Gallery, Kanazawa college of Art (Ishikawa/ Japan)
“KANAZAWA COLLEGE OF ART GRADUAION WORKS 2018  21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Ishikawa/ Japan)

Art Fari

"KOGEI Art Fair Kanazawa 2025" Guest Exhibition by Tomio Koyama Gallery, gallerìa POINTE,  Hyatt Centric Kanazawa (Ishikawa/ Japan)

"KOGEI Art Fair Kanazawa 2024" Guest Exhibition by Tomio Koyama Gallery, Hyatt Centric Kanazawa (Ishikawa/ Japan)
"Art Fair Beppu 2024" Beppu International Tourist Port, Former Ferry Sunflower Terminal (Oita/ Japan)

GRANTS & AWARDS

Grand Prize, The 17th I-shi Award for Emerging Artists, Okayama Prefecture

The 3rd BUG ART AWARD Finalist

Sato International Cultural Scholarship Foundation Adopted as a scholarship recipient for the 30th term

“2017 president of a university's Award for Graduation and Completion Work” 
“2017 21st Century Museum of Art Award for Graduation and Completion Work” Jury: Atsuhiko Shimada
Kuma Foundation Second grader Student Creator Scholarship

Kanazawa College of Art “The 15th Shibata Award” ,  “The 38th Takifuji International Art Award” Excellence Prize

COLLECTION

Kanazawa college of Art, Kanazawa/Japan