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Leiko Ikemura’s career is a “unique synthesis of Japanese and Western culture.” Her paintings and sculptures of hybrids between humans and animals, as well as paintings of Girls fixed between childhood and adulthood, equally transcend any specifications and definitions. Fascination with creatures that exist on the threshold between the real and the mythological awards Ikemura’s works almost an otherworldly atmosphere, drawing from her very own specific background and experience.
In her paintings, drawings and sculptures, Ikemura delves into the contradictions inherent in our perceptions of the world and our identities: the interplay between presence and absence, vulnerability and empowerment, light and shadow, nature and culture. Her hybrid beings across mediums blur such boundaries as they draw from traditions of both Western and Eastern art, making even those discernments obsolete in the face of creative freedom.
Ikemura’s work can be found in the collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf, among others. In the past few years Ikemura has opened several solo exhibitions around the globe including “Towards New Seas” at Kunstmuseum Basel in 2019, “Witty Witches” at the Georg Kolbe Museum in 2023 and “Transfiguration” at the MOMAT collection in Japan earlier this year, as well as “Floating Spheres” in Kunsthalle Emden.
Born 1951 in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Lives and works in Berlin and Cologne, Germany
Selected solo exhibitions
2025
Motherscapes,ALBERTINA, Vienna, Austria
Leiko Ikemura: Talk to the sky, seeking light, Lisson Gallery, New York, USA
Leiko Ikemura, Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur, Switzerland
2024
Von nun an / From now on, Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany
Floating Spheres,Kunsthalle Emden, Emden, Germany
More Light!,Humboldt Forum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany
Light on the Horizon, Heredium Museum, Daejong, South Korea
Momstars, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
Mia Mamma Roma, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Rome, Italy
Tales from the other side, Noack Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Cosmic Mom, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland
With Blue Birds, Palais Populaire, Berlin, Germany
2023
Motion of Love, Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, The Netherlands
Soul Scape Seoul,König Seoul, Seoul, Korea
When Animals Become Art, The Feuerle Collection, Berlin, Germany
Dance of Color, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
In Praise of Silence,Villa Jacobs Park, Potsdam, Germany
Witty Witches, Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin, Germany
Year of the Usagi, MAZ Museo de Arte Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico
Ai no Ayumi,Tsutaya Gallery Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
2022
Flashbacks – 16. Leiko Ikemura, BUILDING BOX, Milano, Italy
Anima Alma – Works 1981 – 2022, Fergus McCaffrey, New York
Mehr Licht!, Intervention, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Humboldtforum, Berlin, Germany
New Girls ou Les Filles Difficiles,Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Paris, France
Infinitely transparent, ShugoArts, Tokyo, Japan
Riding the waves, Tim van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2021
Here We Are / Aqui Estamos,Puerto Banus, Marbella in conjunction with CAC La Ciutat de les Arts y les Ciències Valencia, Spain
Before Thunder, After Dark,BUILDING, Milan, Italy
Usagi Kannon, Sainsbury Art Center, Norwich, UK
Even more tomorrows,Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos CAB, Burgos, Spain
2020
Leiko Ikemura and Jean-Charles Blais, Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
From East to East,Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany
Pleasure Garden,Kewenig Berlin, Germany
In Praise of Light,St. Matthäus-Kirche, Berlin, Germany
2019
Toward new Seas,Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Metamorphoses, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn, Sweden
Der Schrei,Zionskirche, Berlin, Germany
Our Planet. Earth & Stars, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2018
Leiko Ikemura im Dialog mit Donata und Wim Wenders, Stiftung Brandenburger Tor / Liebermann Haus, Berlin, Germany
More Than Ever,Kewenig, Berlin, Germany
Islands Awake,Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen, DK Female Genesis, Neue Galerie Gladbeck, Gladbeck, Germany
Not a Girl,Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Leiko Ikemura & Corsin Fontana,Tony Wuethrich Galerie, Basel, Switzerland
2017
After another world, ShugoArts, Tokyo, Japan
Unknown Voices, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Woman of Fire Dancing with Tree,Galerie Karsten Greve Köln, Cologne, Germany
2016
Poetics of Form,Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, USA
… and suddenly the wind turns, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany
Leiko Ikemura & Paula Modersohn Becker,Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany
2015
Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Mirchandi + Steinruecke, Mumbai, India
All about girls and tigers,Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne, Germany
Prelude. Ein Dialog mit Utagawa Hiroshige, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany
2014
Leiko Ikemura – Cologne Fine Art-Preisträgerin 2014,Cologne Fine Art Fair, Cologne, Germany
Leiko Ikemura & Odilion Redon,Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany
PIOON, The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Mishima, Japan
Last und Lust, Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design, Nürnberg, Germany
2013
I-migration,Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany
Oro y plata,Galerie Karsten Greve Köln, Cologne, Germany
2012
Silver flame,ShugoArts, Tokyo, Japan
Korekara oder die Heiterkeit des fragilen Seins,Asian Art Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany
Mare e Monti,KOLUMBA Kunstmuseum des Erzbistums Köln, Cologne, Germany
Beyond the lake,Galerie Haas, Zürich, Switzerland
2011
Leiko Ikemura: Transfiguration, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, travelled to Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan
Wusstest du, ich habe zwei versteckte Flügel,Burg Wissem, Museum of Troisdorf, Germany
2009
ME ZA ME,ShugoArts, Tokyo, Japan
2008
Tag, Nacht, Halbmond,Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland
2007
Zwischenräume. Leiko Ikemura und Günther Förg, Langen Foundation, Neuss, Germany
2006
.u mi no ko,The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Mishima, Japan
2005
Leiko Ikemura,KOLUMBA Kunstmuseum des Erzbistums Köln, Cologne, Germany
Skulptur-Malerei-Zeichnung,Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany
2002
Ozean – ein Projekt, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Les années lumière, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
2000
Beyond the horizon,Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota, Japan
1999
Yet there is light on the horizon,International Biennal, Japan Pavillon, Melbourne, Australia
Migration. Sculpture and Paintings, The Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, USA
1992
Leiko Ikemura,Art Association of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
1989
Leiko Ikemura. Gemälde, Zeichnungen 1980-1987, Kunstmuseum, Ulm, Germany
1988
Leiko Ikemura. Gemälde, Zeichnungen 1980-1987, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Selected group exhibitions
2025
Poetics of Nature,Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
Ennova Art Biennale,Ennova Art Museum, Langfang, China
Tranquility, Reduction and Monochrome in Arts of Japan, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany
Rising Light / Frozen Moment,Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2024
Trio. Modern Art Collections from Paris, Tokyo and Osaka, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Through other eyes,Franz Marc Museum, Kochel a. See, Germany
Nature Painting Nature, Pilar Corrias, Paris, France
A LONG WAY IN A SHORT TIME. Tomas Kratky and his present,Villa Renata, Basel, Switzerland
Cerámica Suro.,Casa de México en España, Madrid, Spain
Extraordinary Form, Miettinen Collection Berlin, Germany
Fundatie Collection. Old and New Loves, Museum de Fundatie Zwolle, Netherlands
«Être(s) Vivant(s)»MuMo x Centre Pompidou, MuMo x Centre Pompidou, France
DEAD CAN DANCE, Contemporary Fine Arts, Basel, Switzerland
Word Script Sign. The Alphabet of Art, KOLUMBA – Art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Collection 2. Body–––Body, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Masterpiece Collection Exhibition III, Nagoya City Art Museum, Aichi, Japan
2023
The King is Dead, Long Live the Queen, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
Picasso and the 20th Century Masters. Museum Ludwig Collection, My Art Museum MAMU, Seoul, Korea
The Inner Light – or the expression of color,Galerie Du Monde, Hong Kong, China
2022
The Day I Saw You, AMMA Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico
Museum Ludwig, Cologne – History of a Collection with Civic Commitments,The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
MOMAT Collection,The National Museum Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
2021
Everybody Needs a Rock. Seeing the world through the eyes and hands,The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka, Japan
The Art of Life – Contemporary Art by Female Artists, 9th Beijing Biennale, National Museum of China, Beijing, China
GLOBAL GROOVE: Art, Dance, Performance and Protest, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
MOMAT Collection Special: Masterpieces of Japanese Art from the End of the 19th century to the Present,The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Becoming,Saint Jospeh’s Arts Society, San Francisco, USA
Presentation of the Contemporary Collection,The Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2019
Frieze Sculpture 2019,English Gardens, Regent’s Park, London, UK
Usagi Kannon II,Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK
2018
The World on Paper – Sammlung Deutsche Bank, Museum PalaisPopulaire, Berlin, Germany
Beehave, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland
2017
jung und wild. Die 1980er Jahre in München, Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Munich, Germany
2016
Painter of Poetry, Poet of Picture,Hakodate Museum of Art, Hokkaido, Japan
Donations – Florence & Daniel Guerlain,KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Denmark
2015
Ceramix, Ceramic art from Gauguin to Schütte, Bonnefantemuseum, Maastricht, The Netherlands travelled to, Cité de la céramique, Sèvres/ La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
2014
Wild Heart: Art Exhibition of German Neo-Expressionism Since 1960s,China Art Museum, Shanghai
Art in Berlin 1945 until now,Berlinische Galerie, Germany
2012
Beyond Memory,Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel
2009
Lying, Standing and Leaning, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
2008
A Perspective on Contemporary Art 6: Emotional Drawing, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, travelled to The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan Inner Light, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
2006
Berlin-Tokio – Tokio-Berlin,Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
2005
Life actually, MOT Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2000
Visage, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
1999
Why make prints, Museo Nacional de la Estampa, Mexico City, Mexico, Museo de la Estampa y del DieñoCaracas, Venezuela, Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellin, Kolumbien, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contempraneo, San José, Costa Rica
1998
Im Reich der Zeichnung,Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Kunstmuseum Chur, Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Museo Villa dei Cedri, Bellizona, Switzerland
1986
Räume heutiger Zeichnung,Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Vom Zeichnen: 1960-1985,Art Association of Kassel, Germany
