Artist Oscar OIWA
Oscar OIWA Oiwa Oscar
I am an artist of in-between worlds. Born in São Paulo to Japanese parents and working internationally, my practice emerges from movement across cultures, landscapes, and psychological states. I use landscape as a living, unstable space where cities, nature, and memory merge, and shifts in scale reflect contemporary uncertainty. Through immersive drawings, including panoramic works in inflatable domes, I surround viewers with imagined envi ronments that slow perception and dissolve boundaries between inner and outer worlds, inviting reflection on how we inhabit fragile, changing environments.
BIOGRAPHY
| 1965 | Born in São Paulo, Brazil. |
| 1989 | Graduated from School of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo. |
| 1991 | Moved to Tokyo. |
| 2002 | Moved to New York City. |
Currently lives and works in New York City.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 2011 | After Midnight (Thomas Cohn Gallery/São Paulo) |
| 2011 | Oscar Oiwa (National Art Museum/Rio de Janeiro) |
| 2011 | Oscar Oiwa (Agathe Hélion Gallery/Paris) |
| 2012 | Traveling Light (Keumsan Gallery/Seoul ・Shibuya Hikarie CUBE/Art Front Gallery/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2012 | Shibuya Hikarie CUBE (Art Front Gallery/Tokyo) |
| 2013 | Stormy Weather (Nara Roesler Gallery/São Paulo) |
| 2015 | Sea of Silence (Geumsan Gallery/Seoul) |
| 2016 | The World is filled with Light (Art Front Gallery/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2018 | Oscar Oiwa in Paradise-Drawing the Ephemeral (Japan House/São Paulo) |
| 2018 | The Light from the Forest (Keumsan Gallery/Seoul) |
| 2018 | Ginza filled with light (Tokyo Gallery/Tokyo) |
| 2019 | Transphère #6 Oscar Oiwa Rio, Tokyo, Paris des villes, des Jeux (Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris/Paris) |
| 2019 | Journey to the Light (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art/Kanazawa, Japan) |
| 2019 | Black and Light (Cadillac House/New York) |
| 2019 | After Midnight (Mizuma, Kips & Wada Art/New York) |
| 2020 | The Dreams of a Sleeping World (USC Pacific Asia Museum/Pasadena, CA) |
| 2021 | Quarantine Series (Art Front Gallery/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2022 | If I were Living in… (Keumsan Gallery/Seoul) |
| 2022 | The Dreams of a 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/South Korea) |
| 2023 | Metropolis (Nowhere/New York) |
| 2023 | My Ring (Artfront 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 International Biennial of São Paulo (Ibirapuera Park/São Paulo) |
| 1993 | Brazilian Art Today (Fujita Vente Museum/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 1995 | The Vision of Contemporary Art (The Ueno Royal Museum/Tokyo, Japan): Encouragement Award |
| 1996 | The 4th Yokohama Biannual (Yokohama, Kanagawa): Grand Prize, Sakae ward residents' Award |
| 1997 | Voices from Tokyo (Galeria Metropolitana de Barcelona/Barcelona, ACC Gallery Weimar/Weimar Germany, Espace Fron/Lausanne Switzerland) (-1998) |
| 1999 | Museum Walk: workshop and exhibition (Utsunomiya Museum of Art/Tochigi, Japan) |
| 1999 | Art is Fun 10 Hell in Heaven (Hara Museum ARC/Gunma) |
| 2000 | Vacant Lot (Toyota Municipal Museum of Art/Aichi, Japan) |
| 2000 | Gift of Hope (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2001 | In Search of Form (Pusan Metropolitan Art Museum/Pusan, South Korea) |
| 2002 | Cyclical Art Site (Oita Art Museum/Oita, Japan) |
| 2002 | Here is the Museum (Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art/Shizuoka, Japan) |
| 2003 | Japan Rising (Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art/Florida) |
| 2003 | Travelling: Towards the Border (The National Museum of Modern Art/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2007 | the (s) files (El Museo del Barrio/New York) |
| 2008 | Laços do Olhar (Instituto Tomie Ohtake/São Paulo) |
| 2009 | Sacred Monsters (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 | Japanese Brazilian Artists from the Akagawa Collection (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art/Hyogo, Japan) |
| 2011 | Group 1965 (Kunsthalle Dusseldorf/Germany・The National Cultural-Art Museum, Art Arsenal/Kiev, Ukraine) |
| 2014 | Le Printemps de Haute Corrèze (Abbaye Saint André-Centre d'art contemporain Meymac/France) |
| 2014 | Land of Sunlight –Oscar Oiwa and Japanese-Brazilian Artists (Gunma Museum of Art/Tatebayashi, Japan) |
| 2014 | Cidade Politica (Sala de arte Santander/São Paulo) |
| 2015 | A Bird's–eye View of the World (Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art/Hiroshima, Japan) |
| 2015 | Rokko Meets Art-Art Walk 2015 (Rokko Mountain/Hyogo, Japan) |
| 2016 | Collection Exhibition 2 Diary (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa/Kanazawa) |
| 2017 | Transpacific Borderlands (Japanese American National Museum/Los Angeles, CA) |
| 2017 | Japan Alps Art Festival (Nagano, Japan) |
| 2018 | Beyond the End: Ruins in Art History (The Shoto Museum of Art/Tokyo, Japan) (-2019) |
| 2019 | Weavers of Worlds (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2019 | One Hundred Years of Knitters (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo) |
| 2019 | Setouchi Triennale 2019 (Ogijima/Shamijima/Kagawa, Japan) (also in 2010, 2013, 2016) |
| 2020 | HIROSHIMA, the 75th Summer (Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art/Hiroshima, Japan) |
| 2021 | Living in Symbiosis with Forests and Water (Nagano Prefectural Art Museum/Nagano, Japan) |
| 2021 | Oku-Noto Triennale 2020+ (Suzu, former Shoin Station/Ishikawa, Japan) |
| 2021 | "Amabie in the Age of COVID-19" Project (Kadokawa Culture Museum/Saitama, Japan) |
| 2021 | Kadokawa Musashino Museum (Saitama, Japan) |
| 2021 | MOT Collection: Journals (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2021 | Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan |
| 2022 | Range of the Senses: What It Means to "Experience" Today (The National Museum of Art/Osaka, Japan) |
| 2022 | Ogijima Pavillion (Setouchi Triennale/Ogijima, Japan) |
| 2022 | Works from collection (Museum of Contemporary/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2023 | Echoes from New York (Lurf Museum/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 2023 | Keelung Ciao (Keelung, Taiwan・Ichihara Lakeside Museum/Chiba, Japan) |
| 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, Japan) |
| 2024 | Sailing for Hope (Seaside Gallery/Pingtung, Taiwan) |
| 2025 | Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989-2010 (The National Art Center/Tokyo, Japan) |
AWARDS & GRANTS
| 1995 | Encouragement Award (The Vision of Contemporary Art/The Ueno Royal Museum/Tokyo, Japan) |
| 1995 | Artist in Residence Award (The Delfina Studio Trust/London) |
| 1996 | Grand Prize, Sakae ward residents' Award (The 4th Yokohama Biannual/Kanagawa, Japan) |
| 1997 | Received a grant from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation (New York) |
| 2001 | Received a grant from Asian Cultural Council, Tokyo (New York) |
| 2001 | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship (New York) |
| 2019 | Receive the Medal of Honor from His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan |
| 2021 | Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Individual Support Grant (New York) |
PUBLIC/PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona/Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona/The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo/Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo/Mori Art Museum, Tokyo/Tokyo Station Gallery, Tokyo/Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima/Toyota Municipal Museum of Art,Aichi/Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo/Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, Fukushima/Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa/21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa/Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo, São Paulo/Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwon, South Korea/USC Pacific Asia Museum, California
SELECTED ARTWORKS
Donut's Shop, 2025
oil on canvas
90 x 121 cm / 35.4 x 47.6 in
Chocolate, 2026
oil on canvas
91.4 x 122 cm / 35.9 x 48.0 in
Wagashi Hatake, 2026
oil on canvas
91.4 x 122 cm / 35.9 x 48.0 in
Boba Recycle Center, 2026
oil on canvas
90 x 121 cm / 35.4 x 47.6 in
EXHIBITIONS
GROUP EXHIBITION
IMAGINATION
2026.3.13 FRI. - 4.5 SUN.
ARTFAIR
ART FAIR TOKYO 2026
2026.3.13 FRI. - 3.15 SUN.