
Artwork photographs by Adam Reich
TOSHIYUKI KAJIOKA
Born in 1978 in Tokyo, Japan
Lives and works in Otsu City, Japan
Toshiyuki Kajioka has stoically painted a single subject, the surface of a flowing river, for the past twenty years. After receiving training in traditional Japanese painting at school, Kajioka had an epiphanic moment and discovered what became his ultimate subject matter: the surface of a flowing river. Using only sumi ink and graphite pencil, Kajioka captures the wildness, tranquility, and depth of the river. He obsessively creates works as large as 90 x 430 inches, made of six panels. While the artist intends to capture a riverscape, his work also shares the intense characteristics of abstract painting.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013
Toshiyuki Kajioka Solo Exhibition (G/P + g3/gallery, Tokyo)
2011
Shinya-ko, Deep Night (g3/gallery, Tokyo)
2009
Art – life + vol. 11 The Birth Canal—Miraiheno Uneri (Spiral, Tokyo)
Mokushi (Masayoshi Suzuki Gallery, Aichi)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
Seattle Art Fair (CenturyLink Field Event Center, SEIZAN Gallery Booth, Seattle)
2019
Sumi: Japanese Ink Painting From Post-War to the Present (SEIZAN Gallery, New York)
2017
25 Artists Exhibition-SICSF 25th Anniversary Selective Scholarship Recipients (The Sato Museum of Art, Tokyo)
2014
Nichijo / Off the Record (Kanagawa Arts Theatre, Kanagawa)
2013
Konnichi no Sumi Hyogen-ten by 24 artists (The Sato Museum of Art, Tokyo)
2012
Haru urara (Gallery Sala, Shiga, until 2017)
2011
TOKYO FRONTLINE (3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, continued in 2012)
The 3rd Nihonga Shin-ten (Museum “Eki” Kyoto, Kyoto, continued in 2012)
Trans-Plex (Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan)
Nichibi-ten (The National Art Center, Tokyo, Tokyo, until 2016)
ART TAIPEI 2011 (Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei, Taiwan, until 2014)
2006
Kyoto Shinei Senbatsu-ten (The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto)
2005
META II (Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa, continued in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016)
2004
Art Exhibition by the 13th annual scholarship recipients of Sato International Cultural Scholarship Foundation (The Sato Museum of Art, Tokyo)
2003
Konton Kara Odorideru Hoshitachi 2003 (Spiral Garden, Tokyo, continued in 2004, 2007, 2014)
AWARDS
2016
Finalist for the 2016 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, HART Hall at H Queen’s and Christie’s (Hong Kong, continued in 2018)
2015
Finalist for Nikkei Nihonga Prizes, the Ueno Royal Museum (Tokyo)
2002
Selected for Shingo Hoshino Prize Exhibition, the 2nd Triennial Competition at Toyohashi City Museum of Art and History (Aichi)
EXHIBITIONS
Sumi: Japanese Ink Painting from Post-War to the Present