Nobuko WATANABE
Introduction
Nobuko Watanabe is the crossing artist between art and music after finishing her studies in Piano at the Soai Women’s
University. She has developed her ideas about relationship between two contrasting subjects such as humans and materials,
the past and the present, time and space, color and shape and sound and space. A style of her works that she has developed
for the past 40 years is somewhat unique. We can see tension when colorful fabrics are pulled and mounted on a wooden
frame; such tension creates natural curves, which can be seen as sophisticated relief sculptures per se. Also Nobuko
Watanabe is the recipient of the grand prize at the Yoshihara Jiro Art Competition (1999), while she developed her career in
Europe and Japan. Later on, she hosted large-scale solo exhibitions at Aomori Contemporary Art Center (2002) and Otani
Memorial Art Museum (2001). As of now, her exhibitions are going on in major cities of Germany and France and her works
are included in the collections of Osaka Contemporary Art Center, Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Kitakyushu Municipal
Museum of Art and Otani Memorial Art Museum.
Biography
Solo Exhibitions
1972
- Fujimi Gallery, Osaka
1983
- Gallery Klange, Osaka
1985
- Amano Gallery, Osaka
1987
- Fuji Gallery, Osaka / Gallery Cuore, Osaka
1988
- Gallery Cuore, Osaka / Gallery Blanche, Osaka
1989
- ABC Gallery, Osaka
1990
- Gallery Blanche, Osaka
1992
- Shinanobashi Gallery 5, Osaka
1994
- Gallery Portico, Hyogo
1996
- Chayamachi Gallery, Osaka
1998
- Nobuko Watanabe (with Elke Sander), Japanisches Kulturinstitut, Köln, Germany
1999
- Shinanobashi Gallery 5, Osaka
- Nobuko Watanabe: Beyond the Border, Gallery KURANUKI, Osaka
- Nobuko Watanabe: Skulpturen und Bild-Objekte, Galerie Kiki Maier-Hahn, Dusseldorf, Germany
2000
- City Gallery IKEDA, Osaka
2001
- Nobuko Watanabe: Cloth Shape, Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo
2002
- Beyond the Surface, Normart Editions, Inc. / Project Space, CUBE, Osaka
- Cloth Color: Green and Green – stripes, INAX Gallery 2, Tokyo
2003
- Gallery Sun, Seoul ,Korea
- Galerie Kiki Maier-Hahn, Dusseldorf
- Touch the Space, ART COURT GALLERY, Osaka
2004
- Keumsan gallery ,Seoul
2005
- Mysterious Stripes, Shinanobashi Gallery 5, Osaka
2007
- A space into the color, Shinanobashi Gallery 5, Osaka
2007~2008
- Galerie Kiki Maier-Hahn, Dusseldorf
2008
- Color spring into the space,Gallery Baudoin Lebon ,Paris
- Works:1997-2008, Gallery Yamaki Fine Art,Kobe
2009
- Form of color ,Gallery Lads,Osaka
2010
- Form and form,Artfront Gallery,Tokyo
- From space to space ,Shinanobashi gallery,Osaka
2011
- From space to space,Galerie Kiki Maier-Hahn,Dusseldorf
2014
- In-Between,Gallery , Gallery Nomart,Osaka, Japan
- In-Between,Galerie Kiki Maier-Hahn,Dusseldorf
2o15
- In-Between Keumsan Gallery,Seoul
2017
- Beyond "Beyond Color and Space", ARARIO GALLERY CHEONAN, Korea
- Beyond "Beyond Color and Space", Gallery Nomart, Osaka, Japan
2019
- Beyond ”Beyond Color and Space” , Galerie Kiki Maier- Hahn, Duesseldorf, Germany
2020
- Beyond “ Beyond Color and Space” Gallery Shimada, Kobe
Group Exhibitions
1985
- The 17th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum,Tokyo
- Japan Impact Art Now, Museum of Korea, Seoul
1986
- The 16th Tokyo Biennale, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum,Tokyo
- Two-Person Exhibition, Koichi Kawasaki, Nobuko Watanabe, The Third Art Gallery, Seoul
1990
- The 18th Tokyo Biennale, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum,Tokyo
- The 1st Osaka Triennale ’90, MYDOME OSAKA,Osaka
1993
- The 4th Osaka Triennale ’90, MYDOME OSAKA,Osaka
1997
- Artists in connection with Ashiya City Exhibition, Ashiya City Museum of Art & History , Ashiya
1998
- The 9th Osaka Triennale ’90, MYDOME OSAKA,Osaka
1999
- The 10th Yoshihara Jiro Prize Competition, Osaka Contemporary Art Center,Osaka
2000
- SIX DIRECTIONS:Recent works by 6 selected artists, Hilside Forum, Tokyo
- Osaka Trennale 2001, 10th International Contemporary Exhibition, CASO,Osaka
2002
- Artist in Residence, Aomori Contemporary Art Center,Aomori 2005 KIAF, Seoul
- Hyogo International Competition of Painting, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art,Kobe
2006
- Coloring Room, Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, Nishinomiya,Hyougo
- Gold Rush, Takuma +1 +1, Keumsan Gallery, Heyri, Korea
2007
- 24hours 7days a week,Artversum,Dusseldorf
- Japan Contemporary Art Festival ,Heyrie Art Vallerry,Heyri,Korea
2008
- Ab in den Suden,Meierhof project,Dusseldorf
2009
- Singing that Wald, Asago Art Village,Asago,Hyogo
2011
- Minimal Cube ,Keumsan Gallery,Seoul
- Maximal Cube,Keumsan Gallery, Heiyri,Korea
- Box, Gallery Nomart,Osaka
2012
- Artistic interaction Avant-garde Kansai, Otani Memorial Art Museum,Nishinomiya city, the link Between Words and Art, Am Homage to Nakahara Yusuke ,Gallry Yamaki Fine Art,Kobe
2013
- Shinanobashi Gallery Collection,Hyogo prefectural Museum of Art,Kobe What a wonderful world of sculptures ,Kitakyushu Municipal Museum Art, Fukuoka
2014
- In-Between Keiji Uematsu,Nobuko Watanabe,Gallery Baudoin Lebon,Paris,Franace
- Keiji Uematsu,Nobuko Watanabe, Chateau la Maison du Moussel,Andesy,France
- Aspekte Galerie Kiki Maier-Hahn , Dusseldorf.Germany
- Favorite Books , Gallery Nomart, Osaka ,Japan
2015
- Jahresgaben 2015 Art-Can Gallery Nomart ,Osaka , japan
2016
- KUNST - DSCHUNGEL, Galerie Kiki Maier - Hahn, Dusseldorf, Germany
2017
- VOICE OF ASIA" ARARIO GALLERY West Bund Space Opening Exhibition,
- ARARIO GALLERY West Bund, Shanghai, China
- AllStars, Gallery Nomart, Osaka, Japan
2018
- Allstars, Gallery Nomart, Osaka, Japan
2019
- Asago Art Village, Hyogo, Japan
- 30th - Miracle vol.5: Miracle, Gallery Nomart, Osaka, Japan
2020
- DANCING QUEEN Contemporary Women Artists from Asia, ARARIO GALLERY CHEONAN, Cheonan, Kore Overlapping Circles: 5 Artists Collaborate with the Collection, Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan
- Expanding the museum’s history, Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo, Japan
- ASHIYA TIME: A LARGE COLLECTION EXHIBITION, Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, Hyogo, Japan
public collections
texts
She started her simple structured works which consists of cotton fabric and wood frames back in 1997. The tension of the fabric stretched on the frame creates beautiful curved surfaces which invites the viewer's eyes to go from the colorful surface to the inside of the structure.
Currently Nobuko lives and works in Osaka, Japan. She holds her exhibitions around the world including Germany, France, and South Korea.
