Artist - Haruomi Izumi | SEIZAN GALLERY

HARUOMI IZUMI 泉東臣

1979
Born in Chiba, Japan

Haruomi Izumi is a successor of “Nihonga,” the Japanese-style painting which has been practiced over centuries. The word Nihonga was developed as the opposite or counter word, to the word Yo-ga, or Western painting, and is often characterized by the use of traditional materials such as mineral pigments, a binder made of animal glue, washi paper, as well as the choice of subject matter such as nature and animals. Izumi studied Nihonga at Tokyo University of the Arts. Izumi’s signature works, including Yukoku (The Scarlet Hour) and Sokoku (The Blue Hour), depart from traditional Nihonga and combine surreal color with obsessively repetitive patterns of trees. In this way, Izumi creates deeply textured scenes that encompass their surroundings and engulf the viewer with their rich aura.

“Nature has a perfect beauty and I don’t find it interesting to only copy it in my painting,” says Izumi. "I pursue new beauty by eliminating randomness and creating patterns from a single motif and then simplifying elements I find in nature.” Izumi’s works are included in the collections of The Sato Sakura Art Museum, Chiba Bank, Keiyo Bank, and Hulic Co., Ltd.

Artwork photographs by Adam Reich

EDUCATION

2005
MFA from Design, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

2003
BFA from Nihonga Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023
Haruomi Izumi Nihonga-ten, Ikebukuro Tobu, Funabashi Tobu, Japan

2022
Haruomi Izumi Nihonga-ten, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan

2021
Haruomi Izumi Nihonga-ten, Niigata Isetan, Niigata, Japan

2020
Haruomi Izumi: Blue Hour, SEIZAN Gallery, New York

2019
Haruomi Izumi Nihonga ten - Refined Sense, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan

2016
Solo exhibition, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan

2014
Solo exhibition, Chiba Bank Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2013
Solo exhibition, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2011
Solo exhibition, Keiyo Bank, Chiba, Japan (through 2014)

2010
Solo exhibition, Sendai Mitsukoshi, Miyagi, Japan

2009
Solo exhibition, Chiba Bank Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022
Art Market Hamptons, SEIZAN Gallery booth, Nova’s Art Project & Sculpture Park, New York

2021
Fresh Air, SEIZAN Gallery, New York

Mori no Miyako no Art Festival: Haruomi Izumi, Sendai Mitsukoshi, Miyagi, Japan

JOKER, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2020
A Single Ant Bite, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Online Exhibition: “JO SAI SHO FUKU (Ward off Calamities, Invite Good Luck): Gods and Yokai in the Time of Pandemic”, SEIZAN Gallery Tokyo & New York

Art on Paper, SEIZAN Gallery NY booth, Pier 36, New York

Intersect Chicago/ SOFA Online

2019
Reimagined Contemporary Artists Take on The Tale of Genji, SEIZAN Gallery, New York

Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London, UK

Seattle Art Fair, SEIZAN Gallery booth, CenturyLink Field Event Center, Seattle

2018
DELTA, Sendai Mitsukoshi, Miyagi; Sapporo Mitsukoshi, Hokkaido; Fukuoka Mitsukoshi, Fukuoka, Japan

Nihonga: Contemporary Art of Japan, SEIZAN Gallery, New York

The 45th Soga-ten, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Nikitama, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Shunki Soga-ten, Seibu Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan

2017
The Red Men, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

DELTA Nihonga Sannin-ten, Niigata Mitsukoshi, Niigata, Japan

Ouka Prize Exhibition, Sato Sakura Art Museum Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

2016
Asahi Charity Bijutsu-ten, Matsuya Ginza, Toyo, Japan (through 2019)

20th Anniversary Special Exhibition, SEIZAN Gallery Tokyo, Japan

DELTA, Sendai Mitsukoshi, Miyagi, Japan

2015
ShinPA in Suwa, Kitazawa Art Museum, Nagano, Japan

Art Wonderland, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan

2013
Ouka Prize Exhibition, Sato Sakura Art Museum Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Venice Biennale Imago Mundi: Collection of Luciano Benneton, Venice, Italy

SENSU-ten, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2012
Wakate Sakka Nihonga-ten: Korekara, Hiroshima, Japan

Wakate Sakka Nihonga-ten: Kaleidoscope, Shinsaibashi, Osaka, Japan (continued every year afterward)

Mitsukoshi x Gendai: Natsu no Geijutsusai 2012, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan

2011
Higashi Nihon Daishinsai Fukko Charity Auction, Tokyo Art Club, Tokyo, Japan

2010
Haru o Mederu Kaiga-ten, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Something Precious, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2009
Tokyo Contemporary Art Fair 2009, Tobi Art Forum, Tokyo, Japan

2008
Wave 2008: Hana no Kai, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan (through 2012)

Sakka no Tamago-ten, Obuse Museum, Nagano, Japan (name changed to ShinPA!, through 2020)

L’Espoir-ten, Tokyo, Japan

2005
Hato no Kai, (traveled through Japan, held every year since)

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Sato Sakura Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

The Chiba Bank, Ltd.

The Keiyo Bank, Ltd.

Hulic Co., Ltd.

i-com’s Co., Ltd.

Denzuin Temple, Tokyo, Japan

Sezukikai Medical Corporation, Niigata, Japan

PUBLICATIONS

2012
“Nihonga technical Seminar”, Bijutsu no Mado, March, April and May

AWARDS

2005
Design award for Graduate Thesis Work, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan

2004
Honorable Mention for the 15th Garyu Sakura Nihonga Taisho-ten, Gifu, Japan

EXHIBITIONS

1_Hasumura_2010_YoWithintheWind+(2)_edit

FRESH AIR

HARUOMI IZUMI: BLUE HOUR

ONLINE EXHIBITION: 除災招福 JO SAI SHO FUKU

REIMAGINED: CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS TAKE ON THE TALE OF GENJI

NIHONGA: CONTEMPORARY ART OF JAPAN