Leiko Ikemura grew up in Japan, close to the seaside, to which she established a strong connection that is clearly reflected in her later works, and studied Spanish literature at the University of Foreign Languages in Osaka.
In 1972, she immigrated to Spain to continue her studies in Salamanca and Granada. In parallel, and mainly thanks to a friendship with a sculptor, she started working on sculpture herself. Between 1973 and 1978, she studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Seville.
Following her many journeys across Europe, she finally moved to Zürich in 1979. In Switzerland, Ikemura left her first visible mark on the artistic scene of Zürich of the early 1980s. During the same period, her works were exhibited for the first time at the Bonner Kunstverein modern art exhibition centre. Following an invitation by the city in 1983, the artist spent nine months drawing scenes of Nuremberg, afterwards presenting her works during an individual exhibition at Kunsthalle Nürnberg that attracted a great deal of attention.
In 1985, Cologne became the centre of her life and work, and later she grew equally attached to Berlin. She permanently settled in the German capital in 2013. Between 1991 and 2015, she lectured at the Berlin University of the Arts as a professor of painting, and since 2014 she has been working as a lecturer at Joshibi University of Art and Design in Kanagawa, Japan.
Her works have been exhibited individually by museums and institutions all around the world, including the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee (1999), the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art in Toyota (2002), Museum of Art in Liechtenstein, Vaduz (2002), the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen (2004), the Ulmer Museum (2006), the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo (2011), the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (2013), and the Asian Art Museum in Cologne (2015/2016). In 2019, The National Art Center, Tokyo and Kunstmuseum Basel showed the most comprehensive retrospective so far.
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Galerie Michael Haas
Niebuhrstraße 5
10629 Berlin
Galerie Michael Haas
Niebuhrstraße 5
10629 Berlin
Kunst Lager Haas
Lise-Meitner-Straße 7-9
10589 Berlin
Kunst Lager Haas
Lise-Meitner-Straße 7-9
10589 Berlin
Phone: +49 (0) 30 88 92 91 0
Mail: contact@galeriemichaelhaas.de
Phone: +49 (0) 30 88 92 91 0
Mail: contact@galeriemichaelhaas.de
born in Tsu, prefecture Mie, Japan
1970-1972 studied spanish literature in Osaka and since 1972 in Salamanca
1973-1978 studied painting at Scuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungaria, Sevilla
1985 moved to Cologne
1991-2015 professor for painting at the Berlin University of the Arts, Germany
since 2014 Professor at the Joshibi University of Art and Design, Kanagawa, Japan
lives and works in Berlin
2019
Art Encouragement Prize of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan
2014
Sparda Art Prize NRW, Hasen-Tempel, Recklinghausen, Germany
Cologne Fine Art Prize, Germany
2013
JaDe-Award, Cologne
2009
August- Macke- Award
2007
Artist in residence, The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, New Haven
Iserlohner art award of the foundation Sparkasse Iserlohn
2001
award of the critics ‘Bildende Kunst’, Verband der deutschen Kritiker e.V., Berlin
Artist in residence, deWillem3, Vlissingen
1996/98
ekwc – european ceramic workcentre, ´s-Hertogenbosch
1988
jury-award – International ‘Triennale für Originalgraphik’, Grenchen
1983-84
Stadtzeichnerin (artist of the city) in Nürnberg
2020
Leiko Ikemura, Von Ost nach Ost, Kunsthalle Rostock
2019
Leiko Ikemura, 土と星 Our Planet. Earth & Stars, The National Art Center, Tokyo
Leiko Ikemura. Nach neuen Meeren, Kunstmuseum Basel
2018
Leiko Ikemura in conversation with Donata and Wim Wenders, Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, Max Liebermann Haus, Berlin
Leiko Ikemura. Female Genesis, Neue Galerie Gladbeck, Gladbeck
2017
Leiko Ikemura. Märchenwald, Deutsches Keramikmuseum Hetjens, Düsseldorf
Ikemura und Nolde, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Ostseebad Ahrenshoop
Leiko Ikemura, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
No No Noh. Leiko Ikemura im Dialog mit ausgewählten Werken der Sammlung Diethard Leopold, BE International Fine Art, Vienna
Leiko Ikemura. Märchenwald, Deutsches Keramikmuseum Hetjens, Düsseldorf
Leiko Ikemura, ShugoArts Tokyo, Japan
2016
Leiko Ikemura. …und plötzlich dreht der Wind. Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
Leiko Ikemura und Paula Modersohn-Becker. Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin
Leiko Ikemura. Mindscape. Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Leiko Ikemura. Poetics of Form. Nevada Museum of Art, Reno (Nevada)
2015
Leiko Ikemura. Galerie Mirchandani + Steinrücke, Mumbai
Prelude: Leiko Ikemura – ein Dialog mit Utagawa Hiroshige. Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
Leiko Ikemura. All About Girls and Tigers. Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Cologne
2014
Zwischenwelten, Altana Kulturstiftung, Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe
Leiko Ikemura & Odilon Redon, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin
Leiko Ikemura, Hilfiker Kunstprojekte, Luzern
Leiko Ikemura. PIOON, The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Mishima
2013
LEIKO IKEMURA. i-migration, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
Leiko Ikemura, Hilfiker Kunstprojekte, Luzern
Leiko Ikemura. Sueño de árboles rojos, Poligrafa Obra Grafica, Barcelona
Leiko Ikemura. oro y plata, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne
2012
Beyond the Lake, mit einem Bild von Ferdinand Hodler, Galerie Haas, Zürich
Korekara oder die Heiterkeit des fragilen Seins, Museum für Asiatische Kunst –
Museen Dahlem, Berlin
Mare et Monti, KOLUMBA Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne
Silver Flame, ShugoArts, Tokyo
2011
Leiko Ikemura: Transfiguration, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Leiko Ikemura, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan
Wußtest du, ich habe zwei versteckte Flügel, Burg Wissem, Museum Troisdorf
Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Karsten Greve. Paris
Leiko Ikemura: Flame and Fire, Galerie Priska Pasquer. Cologne
2010
Leiko Ikemura, August-Macke-Preis Ausstellung, Sauerland-Museum Arnsberg
face scape, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne
Asuka, Loock Galerie, Berlin
2009
ME ZA ME, ShugoArts, Tokyo
Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Jirí Svestka, Prague
2008
Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Haas & Fuchs, Berlin
Tag, Nacht und Halbmond, Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Karsten Greve, St. Moritz
La Notte, Galerie Tony Wuethrich, Basel
2007
Leiko Ikemura. Iserlohner Kunstpreis“, Villa Wessel, Iserlohn
Zwischenräume, Leiko Ikemura und Günther Förg, Langen Foundation, Neuss
Neue Arbeiten, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne
2006
u mi no ko, The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Mishima
Pacific, ShugoArts, Tokyo
Andalusienbilder, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
Leiko Ikemura, The Bill Lowe Art Gallery, Atlanta
2005
Mars Mother, Kunst-Station St. Peter, Cologne
Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris
Leiko Ikemura, Skulptur-Malerei-Zeichnung, Ulmer Museum
Leiko Ikemura – remember little boys, Galerie Haas & Fuchs, Berlin
Leiko Ikemura. Sculptures, Paintings, Works on Paper, KOLUMBA Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne
2004
Leiko Ikemura, Skulptur-Malerei-Zeichnung, Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern
beach girls, Galerie Tony Wuethrich, Basel
Leiko Ikemura, Skulptur-Malerei-Zeichnung, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen
madre mare, Shugoarts, Tokyo
Isola. Gallery HAM, Nagoya
2003
Madre Mare, Galeria Luis Serpa, Lisbon
2002
Ozean – ein Projekt, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
vom Ozean, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne
Leiko Ikemura. Les années lumière – Lichtjahre, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne
Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Haas und Fuchs, Berlin
2000
beyond the horizon, Toyota Munincipal Museum of Art, Toyota
Le Rire Silencieux de Miko, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris
The memory of innocence, Morat-Institut, Freiburg
1999
Yet there is light on the horizon, Melbourne International Biennal, Japan Pavillon, Melbourne
Leiko Ikemura. ceramics + drawings, Art Affairs, Amsterdam
Leiko Ikemura: Migrations; Sculpture and Paintings, The Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee
Yet there is light on the horizon, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne
Leiko Ikemura, Photographie und Malerei, Haus der Kultur, Waldkraiburg
2018
PAINTING still ALIVE… On the way to modernity, Centre of Contemporary Art, Toruń/Poland
Das Lied der Dinge. Stilleben im Wandel der Kunst, Museum für Aktuelle Kunst – Sammlung Hurrle Durbach
Redon and his World. Beyond Imagination, The Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan
From the 1980s to the 2010s, ShougoArts, Tokyo, Japan
Leiko Ikemura im Dialog mit Donata und Wim Wenders, Stiftung Brandenburg Tor / Liebermann
Haus, Berlin
The Collection of the Takamatsu Art Museum + In Spilling Light with Chuta Kimura, Takamatsu Art Museum, Shikoku
Ausstellung zum Prix de Dessin, Fondation Daniel & Florence Guerlain Paris
2017
A Trip through the Tokyo Station Gallery Collection. From Railway Art to Picasso, Tokyo Station Gallery, Tokyo
jung und wild. Die 1980er Jahre in München, Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Munich
BERLIINI >>> NASTOLA, Taarasti art centre, Nastola, Finland
Ikemura & Nolde, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Ostseebad Ahrenshoop
Wetterbericht. Über Wetterkultur und Klimawissenschaft, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn
Schlaf. Eine produktive Zeitverschwendung, Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen
2016
Painter of Poetry, Poet of the Picture. Himeji City Museum of Art Hyogo; Ahsikaga Museum of Art Tochigi; Hakodate Museum of Art Hokkaido
Ceramix – Art et Céramique de Rodin à Schütte, La Maison Rouge Paris
Sein. Antlitz. Körper – Kirchen öffnen sich der Kunst, Dome Berlin
Donations – Florence & Daniel Guerlain, Collection Centre Pompidou at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Denmark
Sharing as Caring no.5/ Beyond Documentation, Kunstverein Heidelberg
All living things. Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka, Japan
Ready for the Stage / Act 1 (1900 – 2016), Arp Museum, Remagen
Тhe 56th October Salon „The Pleasure of Love“, Belgrad
Kumo no ito, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
2015
Ce qui je suis maintenant. Ein Zimmer für Alfred Flechtheim, Osthaus Museum, Hagen
Koelnskulptur #8 – Sculpture Parc Cologne
Rohkunstbau XXI. Apokalypse, Berlin
The Red Thread – On Structures in Narration, Kolumba Museum, Cologne
Ceramix. Ceramic art from Gauguin to Schütte, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht
Einfühlung und Abstraktion. Die Moderne der Frauen in Deutschland, Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Gute Kunst? Wollen! Auf AEG, Nuremberg
St. Moritz Art Masters 2015, St. Moritz
How We Appear, and Where Life Takes Us 100 Years of the Town and 20 Years of the Museum Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota Aichi Japan
Tiere Schauen, Hegenbarth Sammlung Berlin, Berlin
Painter of Poetry, Poet of the Picture, SHONAN – The Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Hiratsuka, Japan
Schön, Euch zu sehen. 160 Werke aus der Sammlung, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
2014
JapanArtToday, Kunsthaus Interlaken
BLÜTEZEIT, ART FOYER, Frankfurt am Main
Das flüssige Element. Seestücke des 17. und 21. Jahrhunderts, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop
ON & ON & ON, Kunstgruppe, Cologne
Macht.Wahn.Vision. Rapunzel & Co. Von Türmen und Menschen in der Kunst, Arp Museum, Remagen
Stock One, Tony Wuethrich Galerie, Basel
Distant Observations. Fukushima in Berlin, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin
Gallery Artists Show, ShugoArts, Tokyo, Japan
Verwundung und Zuflucht. Werke aus der Sammlung des Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Küefer-Martis-Huus, Ruggell, Liechtenstein
PAPER I CARTRO, GALERIA KEWENIG, Palma de Mallorca
LOVE AIDS RIOT SEX 2, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
Künstlerräume, GALERIE KARSTEN GREVE, Cologne
37th International Symposium: Reconsidering ‘Form’, Tobunken: Nat. Research Inst. f. Cultural Properties, Tokyo, Japan
2013
Gebrannte Erde, Gerich Stiftung Neumünster
Von Japanismus zu Zen. Paul Klee und der Ferne Osten, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
Landschaft nach 2000, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabrück
Macht/Wahn/Vision – Der Turm und urbane Giganten, Museum im Deutschhof, Heilbronn
Donation Florence et Daniel Guerlain, Centre Pompidou – Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris
Eine Art Salon. Curated by Marion Piffer Damiani, Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Vienna
Rational + Emotional, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Leiko Ikemura. Los Espantos, GALERIA KEWENIG, Palma de Mallorca
ART IN BERLIN 1945 UNTIL NOW, Berlinische Galerie, Museum of Modern Art Berlin
Painting Forever! Keilrahmen, KW Institute for Contemporary Art KUNST-WERKE BERLIN MOMAT Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
All Kinds of Ceramics – 20 Years of the Artist in Residence Program, Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan
kjubh, Kunstverein Köln – Editionen 2003 – 2013″ zu Gast im oqbo Berlin, Galerie oqbo, Berlin
ZigZag / Leporello / Harmonica books / 화첩 : Hua Chup / おりほん: Ori-Hon, Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart
Schöne Landschaft – Bedrohte Natur. SØR Rusche Sammlung, Kunsthalle Osnabrück
MOMAT Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, Japan
20 Jahre Tony Wuethrich Galerie, Tony Wuethrich Galerie, Basel
Koelnskulptur 7, Skulpturenpark Cologne
Japanese Modern Arts and Western Arts / Women Artists from the Collection, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan
The ShugoArts Show, ShugoArts, Tokyo
JaDe Prize 2013 Winner Award Ceremony, The Japan Foundation, Cologne
Landscapes (1872 – 2012), Galerie Haas AG, Zürich
Traumwelten, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin
2012
Beyond Memory, Museum of the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel
Innovationen in der Kunst der Schweiz, Kunsthaus Interlaken
DOKI DOKI, Museum of Contemporary Cramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan
Art as Magic, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan
2011
Rising with the sun, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
Fukushima and the consequences, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin
Mit Feuer und Flamme, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot
2010
Plastic Artists and their Grafik Work, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
Innocence – Art towards Live, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts
Noli me tangere!, KOLUMBA Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne
Expanding Art, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan
Japanese Art 1950-2010, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
Asuka. Leiko Ikemura/Philipp von Matt, Loock Galerie, Berlin
2009
Lying, Standing and Leaning, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
100 Jahre Hetjens Museum. Faszination des Fremden: China-Japan-Europa, Hetjens Museum, Düsseldorf
Emotional Drawing, SOMA Museum of Art, Seoul
2008
A Perspective on Contemporary Art 6: Emotional Drawing, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokio and The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
Inner Light, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
spot on 02: Die Würde des Körpers. Bilder uns Skulpturen aus der Sammlung Hanck, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
2007
Fiction for the Real, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Zwischenräume, Leiko Ikemura & Günther Förg, Langen Foundation, Neuss
Der unendliche Raum dehnt sich aus, KOLUMBA Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne
2006
Berlin-Tokio _Tokio-Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
2005
The World is a stage. Stories behind Pictures, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Asian Potential. Art Nursed by Sea and Islands, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art,
Nagoya, Japan
2004
1. Biennale der Zeichnung, Kunstverein Eislingen
2003
Himmelschwer – Transformationen der Schwerkraft,
Landesmuseum Johanneum & Minoriten Kultur, Graz
2002
Dasein – Existence, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
Bella Vista, Kunst Meran, Italy
2001
Kabinett der Zeichnung, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
VISION, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
Terra!Terra!, CESAC, Caraglio, Italy
2000
Visage: Painting and the Human Face in 20th Century Art, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokio and The National Muaeum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
1999
Why make prints, Museo National da la Estampa, Mexico (Venezuela, Columbia, San José)
Noontime Meditation, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi, Japan
KölnSkulptur 2, Skulpturenpark Cologne