Collection: Mika Shinagawa
Mika ( 1988) Born in Kumamoto, Japan, currently based in Kyoto:
I paint to think about things I don't understand or are difficult to solve. Depending on the environment and experiences of the viewer, how they feel may be different, but each artwork has its own metaphors, such as the macro and micro images in the eyes of a child, or honey bees with colony collapse disorder. They suggest the connection between the existence of small lives and the larger existences of history or the universe, meaning that to me each life itself has value, and is not about instrumentalism or utilitarianism. Since childhood, I have vaguely felt that the world I see might not be the same as what others perceive.
According to Anil K. Seth, a professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, the reality we experience is not a direct reflection of what actually exists but it is a clever construction created by the brain itself. One could say that I am painting a virtual reality.
For me, painting is an attempt to transcend the boundaries of my own world while facing the reality and my everyday life. At the same time, it is an effort to accept the diversity of realities created by many different brains, based on the fact that human beings are difficult to understand each other.difficult to understand each other.
Education:
2016 M.F.A. Kyoto University of Art and Design
Major group exhibitions and art fairs:
2025
ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2025, Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall B, Fukuoka
CAPS 2025, Osaka Takashimaya, Osaka
Trash, Pencils, and Art' Exhibition, UNKNOWN HARAJUKU, Tokyo
Not quite here, Art lounge progect #6, Okayama
2024
ARTISTS' FAIR KYOTO 2024, Kyoto National Museum Meiji Kotokan Hall, Kyoto
ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2024, Fukuoka Kokusai Center, Fukuoka
HANKYU ART FAIR 2024, Osaka
Higashi Kyoto exhibition, The Echoes of East Kyoto, WHAT CAFE, Tokyo
Chishima Land Collection, TIDE - When Currents Take Shape, Chidori Bunka, Osaka
2022
GOLDMEMBER 2022, Shimogamo Saryo, Kyoto
Up_01, Ginza Tsutaya GINZA ATRIUM, Tokyo
2021
Contemporary Art Fair at HANKYU LUX, Hankyu Umeda, Tokyo
2020
ANTEROOM NAHA_Phase 2020, Okinaw
Starbucks Kyoto BAL store, Permanent, Art Direction SANDWICH, Kyoto
Breathing Garden, Iori Machiya Stay, Kyoto
2019
Universal Music Art Project 17, Tokyo
November Island, WINWIN ART, Taipei, Taiwan
Each Real, A-lab, Hyogo
Mika Shinagawa + Kazuhiko Kabuhiki inner space colony, ARTZONE, Kyoto
ARTISTS' FAIR KYOTO 2018, The Museum of Kyoto Annex, Kyoto
2018
Selected New Artists in Kyoto, The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto
TAIWAN ANNUAL, Taipei Expo Park - Expo Dome, Taipei, Taiwan
Insecure Tide Land -International Art Exchange Exhibition, WINWINART, Kaohsiung
JAPAN Young Artist Exhibition in SEOUL, uJung Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2017
Gunma Youth Biennale 2017, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma
ANTEROOM×SANDWICH 365 Days Art Fair, HOTEL ANTEROOM, Kyoto
2016
YANG ART TAIPEI 2016, Taiwan
2013
TRANSPARENCY OF ART, Rostock Art Museum, Germany
Solo Exhibition
2025
Even if we don't know the name of that bird., Takashimaya Kyoto S.C. T8, 6F Art Wall, Kyoto
The Beginning of the World, gallery EN wall, Kyoto
2023
mtk+ vol.14 Mika Shinagawa, Cafe Dot.S, Kyoto
2022
Day and Night, OlL by Bijutsu Techo, Tokyo
2021
The dream of the embry, Iori Machiya Stay, Kyoto
Online Feature:
"Featured Artist File.19: Coexisting Various Eras and Styles in Her Work Shinagawa", ELLE, published April 11, 2025, by Yurico Yoshino
Publications:
"Sometimes, Let Art Steal the Spotlight" ELLE No.488, June 2025 issue, p. 211
Artist Residency:
2013 Art Rainbow Project, Rostock, Germany
Awards:
2017 Gunma Biennale for Young Artists 2017, Selected Prize
2015 Kyoto University of Art and Design Completion Exhibition, Grand Prize
2016 The 31st Holbein Scholarship, Scholarship recipient
Collection:
TOY'S FACTORY INC., Tokyo
Rostock Museum of Art, Germany
Bennett Collection of Woman Realis, Texas, USA
ASTON MARTIN OSAKA / HAKKO LR GROUP
Universal Music LLC, Tokyo
Anteroom Seoul, Seoul
Anteroom Naha, Naha
Chishima Land, Osaka
Hotel ANDI, Wuhan, China
Ryobi Group, Okayama
DMG MORI CO.,LTD., Nara