Artist Oscar OIWA
OVERVIEW
Oscar OIWA Oiwa Oscar
I am an artist living in the "world in between". Born in Sao Paulo to Japanese parents, I now work internationally. My practice emerges from the experience of moving between cultures, landscapes, and psychological states. I treat the landscape as a living, unstable space, where city, nature, and memory intersect, and where shifts in scale reflect contemporary uncertainty. Through immersive drawings, including a panoramic work inside an inflatable dome, I envelop the viewer in an imaginary environment that moderates perception and dissolves the boundary between the inner and outer worlds. It opens an opportunity to reflect on how we exist in this fragile and ever-changing world.
oscaroiwastudio.com
@oscar.oiwa
BIOGRAPHY
| 1965 | Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| 1989 | Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo |
| 1991 | Moved to Tokyo |
| 2002 | Moved to New York |
Currently based in New York City
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 2011 | After Midnight (Thomas Kohn Gallery/São Paulo) |
| 2011 | Oiwa Oscar (National Museum of Fine Arts/Rio de Janeiro) |
| 2011 | Oscar Oiwa (Agathe Hélion Gallery/Paris) |
| 2012 | Traveling Light (Geumsan Gallery/Seoul) |
| 2012 | Shibuya Hikarie CUBE (Art Front Gallery/Tokyo) |
| 2013 | Stormy Weather (Nala Roessler Gallery/São Paulo) |
| 2015 | Sea of Silence (Geumsan Gallery/Seoul) |
| 2016 | The World is Full of Light (Art Front Gallery/Tokyo) |
| 2018 | Oscar Oiwa in Paradise - Drawing the Ephemeral (Japan House/São Paulo) |
| 2018 | Light from the Forest (Geumsan Gallery/Seoul) |
| 2018 | Ginza filled with light (Tokyo Gallery/Tokyo) |
| 2019 | Transphere #6: Rio, Tokyo, Paris - A Festival of Cities and Sports (Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris/Paris) |
| 2019 | Journey toward Light (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa/Kanazawa) |
| 2019 | Black and Light (Cadillac House/New York) |
| 2019 | After Midnight (Mizuma Art Gallery/New York) |
| 2020 | Dreaming World (USC Pacific Museum of Asian Art/California) |
| 2021 | Quarantine Series (Art Front Gallery/Tokyo) |
| 2022 | If I Were Living in (Geumsan Gallery/Seoul) |
| 2022 | Dream of Sleeping World (Seaside Art Gallery/Pingtung, Taiwan) |
| 2022 | If I Were Living in (Nowhere/New York) |
| 2023 | If I Were Living in... (Guryongpo Art Factory/Korea) |
| 2023 | Metropolis (Nowhere/New York) |
| 2023 | My Rin (Art Front Gallery/Tokyo) |
| 2024 | Oscarscape (Tower 49 Gallery/New York) |
| 2024 | Light Shop (Tsutaya Gallery/Kyoto) |
| 2024 | Oil Octopus (Hikarie Gallery/Tokyo) |
| 2025 | Light Shop (Ginza Tsutaya Gallery/Tokyo) |
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
| 1991 | The 21st Sao Paulo International Biennial (Ibirapuera Park / Sao Paulo) |
| 1993 | Brazilian Art Today (Fujita Vante Museum/Tokyo) |
| 1995 | VOCA Exhibition 1995: Visions of Contemporary Art (The Ueno Royal Museum/Tokyo) |
| 1996 | The 4th Yokohama Sculpture Exhibition (Yokohama Museum of Art, Art Plaza/Kanagawa) |
| 1997 | Voices from Tokyo (Galeria Metropolitana de Barcelona/Barcelona, ACC Gallery Weimar/Weimar Germany, Espace Fron/Lausanne Switzerland) (-1998) |
| 1999 | Workshop: Yukio Oiwa Oskar and Museum Runaway (Utsunomiya Museum of Art/Tochigi) |
| 1999 | Art is Fun 10 Hell in Heaven (Hara Museum ARC/Gunma) |
| 2000 | Vacant lot (Toyota Municipal Museum of Art/Aichi) |
| 2000 | Gift of Hope - Principle of Hope (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo) (-2001) |
| 2001 | In Search of Form (Busan Municipal Museum of Art/Busan, Korea) |
| 2002 | Art Circulation System Site (Oita Municipal Museum of Art/Oita) |
| 2002 | Landscape Here and Now = Collection + Artist + You (Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art/Shizuoka) |
| 2003 | Japan Rising (Palm Beach Contemporary Art Association/Florida) |
| 2003 | Journey: Ten Lessons for Living 'Somewhere but Here' (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo/Tokyo) |
| 2007 | the(s) files (El Museo del Barrio/New York) |
| 2008 | Laços do Olhar (Otake Tomie Cultural Center / Sao Paulo) |
| 2009 | Postmodern Japanese Reiki Exhibition (Tufts University Art Gallery/Massachusetts) |
| 2009 | Animamix Biennial (Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei/Taipei, Taiwan - Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai/Shanghai, China) (-2010) |
| 2009 | Niigata Water and Soil Art Festival (Niigata City Art Museum/Niigata) |
| 2010 | Genealogy of Brazilian Nikkei Painters (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art/ Hyogo) |
| 2011 | 1965 Association We are Boys! (Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf/Germany - Art Arsenal/Kiev/Ukraine) |
| 2014 | Spring in Haute Corrèze (Abbey of St. Andre, Maymac Contemporary Art Center/Maymac, France) |
| 2014 | Land of Sunshine - Brazilian Nikkei Painters and Oiwa Oscar (Gunma Prefectural Tatebayashi Museum of Art/Gunma) |
| 2014 | Political City (Sala de Arte Santander/São Paulo) |
| 2015 | Overhead View of the World (Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art/Hiroshima) |
| 2015 | Rokko Meats Art Art Walk (Mt. Rokko/ Hyogo) |
| 2016 | Collection Exhibition 2 Diary (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa/Kanazawa) |
| 2017 | Transpacific Borderlands (Japanese American National Museum/Los Angeles, CA) |
| 2017 | North Alps International Art Festival (Omachi Onsenkyo/Nagano) |
| 2018 | Beyond the End: Art History of Ruins (Shibuya Shoto Museum of Art/Tokyo) (-2019) |
| 2019 | Weavers of Worlds (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo) |
| 2019 | One Hundred Years of Knitters (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo) |
| 2019 | Setouchi International Art Festival 2019 (Ogijima/Shamijima/Kagawa) (also exhibited in 2010, 2013, 2016) |
| 2020 | HIROSHIMA 75th Summe (Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art/Hiroshima) |
| 2021 | Living in Harmony with Forests and Water (Nagano Prefectural Museum of Art/Nagano) |
| 2021 | Okunoto International Art Festival 2020+ (Former Matsuin Station / Suzu, Ishikawa) |
| 2021 | Amabie and the COVID-19 era (project) |
| 2021 | Kadokawa Musashino Museum (Saitama) |
| 2021 | MOT Collection: Journals |
| 2021 | Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2022 | The Realm of the Senses: What it means to "experience" today (The National Museum of Art, Osaka) |
| 2022 | Ogijima Pavilion (Setouchi International Art Festival/Ogijima, Kagawa) |
| 2022 | Exhibition of works from the collection (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo) |
| 2023 | Echoes from New York (Lurf MUSEUM/Tokyo) |
| 2023 | Keelung Ciao (Keelung, Taiwan) |
| 2023 | Ichihara Lakeside Art Museum, Chiba, Japan |
| 2024 | Private View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Ryutaro Takahashi Collection (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo) |
| 2024 | The Wave Effect (Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art/Haifa Israel) |
| 2024 | Takahashi Collection (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo) |
| 2024 | Sailing for Hope (Seaside Gallery/Pingtung, Taiwan) |
| 2025 | Prism of the Times: Art Expression Born in Japan 1989-2010 (The National Art Center, Tokyo) |
AWARDS & GRANTS
| 1995 | VOCA Exhibition 1995, Encouragement Prize (The Ueno Royal Museum/Tokyo) |
| 1995 | Artist in Residence Award (Delfina Studio Trust/London) |
| 1996 | Grand Prize and Sakae Ward Citizens' Prize at the 4th Yokohama Sculpture Exhibition, Yokohama. |
| 1997 | Funded by Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York |
| 2001 | Asian Cultural Council Grant (Tokyo/New York) |
| 2001 | Grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York |
| 2019 | Received Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon |
| 2021 | Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant, New York |
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan / National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan / Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan / Utsunomiya Museum of Art, Tochigi, Japan / Tokyo Station Gallery, Tokyo, Japan / Ikeda 20th Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Shizuoka, Japan / Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan / Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo, Japan / Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, Japan / Fukushima Prefectural Art Museum, Fukushima, Japan / Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata, Japan / Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan Museum of Art, Fukushima, Japan / Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata, Japan / Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan / Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, Gunma, Japan / 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan / Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona / Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona / Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation, Montreux, Arizona / University of São Paulo Museum of Contemporary Art, São Paulo, Brazil （Gyeongnam Provincial Museum of Art, Gyeongnam-do, Korea
EXHIBITIONS
GROUP EXHIBITION
IMAGINATION
2026.3.13 FRI. - 4.5 SUN.
ARTFAIR
ART FAIR TOKYO 2026
2026.3.13 FRI. - 3.15 SUN.