Ryogoku
Ayako Okuda
February 27 (Sat) - March 27 (Sat), 2021
Open : Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 7pm / Closed on Sunday, Monday and National holiday
GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Ayako Okuda from Saturday, February 27th through Saturday, March 27th, 2021.
Okuda has depicted nature and people from the early works. The light and shadow in her paintings fit in the landscape. Also, Okuda shows people with small scale in the paintings for expressing how human beings are not important at all in nature and how we should live with nature. The expression of lights and shadow, and the distinctive way to show people in nature are her signatures.
Okuda began to look at the scenery around her when she couldn't travel freely due to the COVID-19. Okuda said that when she depicts humans in the landscape, she realized the size of the present world more, and thought about the size of human existence. In this exhibition, Okuda will show the paintings that she tries to retain the feeling of the difficulty that we cannot go to the places we want to go to and we cannot meet the people we want to meet freely.
While the familiar landscapes such as the warm light leaking through the trees, and the expression of the light reflected by the water are kept as they are, people in her paintings described small scales. They are far from reality. It gives the viewers that the existence of people and the world around them are uncertain. Selecting the motifs from landscapes that everyone can see for her paintings and adding her points of view, the landscape gives the viewers a fresh and refreshing image, and even the feeling of blending into the landscape is captured. It would be a great opportunity to take a look at the works that depict the "world at your feet" that you have re-examined the world from your nearest point, yet have your own unique view of the world.
Ayako Okuda was born in 1980 and is based in Osaka. In 2005, Okuda received M.A. from Osaka Kyoiku University and won the prize for encouragement at the 5th Kiyosu City Haruhi Painting Triennial. After she started to work as a teacher, her work was selected to SHELL ART AWARD in 2006.
Artist's Comment
Before the restrictions on outing due to the COVID-19, I started to take a walk in the neighborhood.
I have depicted the wide seas and large mountains that I saw in my trips, but I realized that there are many motifs that I want to draw in familiar places when I walked around slowly. It’s a pity that I can’t travel far, but I appreciate that I had a lot of free time, so I was able to collect a lot of nearby scenery.
Arranging humans in the familiar landscapes in my paintings, I can feel the size of the world we live in more realistically. How big is one human being in this society? I think the size of a person’s existence to me is completely different from the one to someone else. Also, the size of my existence might be different depending on the person, the situation, and the time.
It’s an inconvenient circumstance that we can’t go and meet my friends and family freely. I attempt to leave the feeling I can experience only because of this situation in my paintings.
Ayako Okuda, 2021
1980 Born in Osaka
2003 B.A., Department of Art and Science, Osaka Kyoiku University
2005 M.A., Art Education, Osaka Kyoiku University
[Solo exhibitions]
2020 Muu Higashi Shinsaibashi gallery, Osaka
2019 GAMOYON gallery, Osaka
2017 Galerie Tzigane, Osaka
GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo
2016 2kw Gallery, Osaka
2015 2kw Gallery, Osaka
2014 2kw Gallery, Osaka
2013 2kw Gallery, Osaka
2012 2kw Gallery, Osaka
2011 GALLERY MoMo Roppongi, Tokyo
2010 2kw Gallery, Osaka
2008 Gallery Den 58, Osaka
GALLERY MoMo Roppongi, Tokyo
2007 GALLERY wks., Osaka
Gallery Den, Osaka
2006 Gallery Den, Osaka
2005 STREET GALLERY, Hyogo
2004 GALLERY wks., Osaka
[Group exhibitions]
2020 "Oil on the Edge" Koichi Fine Arts, Osaka
2019 "FACE 2019 “ONDO” Yuko Ebi, Ayako Okuda,Yukiko Nakamichi" 2kw Gallery, Osaka
2018 "SPRING COLLECTION" Abeno harkas gallery, Osaka
2017 "Open for the Future Exhibition" Gallery Kiku, Osaka
"Big Sensation" Gallery Den mym, Kyoto
"Alternative Selection 1 – Ayako Okuda, Koji Okuda, Nobuko Sugio-」Koichi Fine Arts, Osaka
"WONDERS vol.3 In & Out" MINA-TO SPIRAL1F, Tokyo
2016 "Lead Future Exhibition" Gallery Kiku, Osaka
2015 "Lead Future Exhibition" Gallery Kiku, Osaka
"Encounter" GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo
2014 "Lead Future Exhibition Part2" Gallery Kiku, Osaka
"Amagasaki Art Festival" Amagasaki Cultural Center, Hyogo
2013 "Individual Creation" GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo
"2kw Electric Power Substation Plan for a Future Painting" 2kw Gallery, Osaka
"Lead Future Exhibition Part1" Gallery Kiku, Osaka
"Harmony, Peace Exhibition" Koichi Fine Arts, Osaka
2012 "Shell Art Award 2012" The National Art Center, Tokyo
2011 "Imaginary forest" KOUICHI FINE ARTS, Osaka
"Regenerate" GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo
"Ayako Okuda, Kensho Hamaji, Hisayo Fukuyoshi"Gallery Kiku, Osaka
2010 "winter session of 4 artists -spring is here?" SEIBU Shibuya Alternative space, Tokyo
2009 "Art Court Frontier 2009" ARTCOURTGallery, Osaka
"Summer Group Show Hop Step Jump" GALLERY MoMo Roppongi, Tokyo
2008 "WONDER SEEDS 2008" WONDER SITE Shibuya, Tokyo
"VISUAL SENSATION VOL.3" Gallery Den 58, Tokyo
"Opening Exhibition" GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo
2006 "WONDER SEEDS 2006" WONDER SITE Sibuya, Tokyo
"Ayako Okuda, Chikako Hayakawa Exhibition" GALLERY MoMo, Tokyo
"Shell Art Award 2006" Kyoto Municipal Museum Of Art, Kyoto
2005 "Yumehiroba Haruhi Picture Biennale" Haruhi Museum of Art, Aichi
"P & E exhibition" ART COURT Gallery, Osaka
2003 "Kyoten" Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto
"Morikazu Kumagai Grand Prix exhibition" Art peer Fuchi literary arts plaza, Gifu
2001 "Group exhibition" SUMISO, Osaka
2002 "Jiro Yoshiwara Art contest" Osaka Contemporary Art Center, Osaka
[Prize]
2006 The 20th HOLBEIN Scholarship
2019 Frontier Artists Conets Exhibition 2019, Award of Excellence
[Public Collection]
KIYOSU CITY HARUHI ART MUSEUM
Osaka Psychiatric Medical Center
Angel Court Hospital
Mizuho Bank, New York
