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大久保紗也
Saya OKUBO
1992 Born in Fukuoka, Japan
Currently lives and works in Kyoto.
profile photo by Hidenori Suzuki
WORKS EXHIBITIONS NEWS STATEMENT CV

WORKS

  • Solo Exhibition “The mirror crack’d from side to side”
    2022
    Installation view

    Venue : Roppongi Hills A/D Gallery (Tokyo) / photo by: Shintaro Yamanaka (Qsyum!)
  • Warrior ( mirror )
    2022
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1620 × 1303 mm
  • The Cursed Woman
    2022
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1303 × 1620 mm
  • Fishing (left)
    2022
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1303 × 970 mm
  • Fishing (right)
    2022
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1303 × 970 mm
  • Sleeping (left)
    2022
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • Sitting woman (mirror)
    2022
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 455 × 380 mm
  • She’s sitting
    2022
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1000 × 727 mm
  • Solo Exhibition “We are defenseless. / We are aggressive. “
    2022
    Installation view

    Venue : Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Honten, MITSUKOSHI CONTEMPORARY GALLERY (Tokyo) / photo by: Shintaro Yamanaka (Qsyum!)
  • Man with baton
    2021
    acrylic and oil on wooden panel, 2025 × 1395 mm
  • therapy / exorcism
    2021
    acrylic and oil on wooden panel, 1210 × 2000 mm
  • They (stop hitting, stop holding)
    2021
    oil and acrylic on corrugated plastics sheeting, 1800 × 1500 mm
  • They
    2021
    oil and acrylic on corrugated plastics sheeting, 1300 × 1765 mm
  • Art of self-defense
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1455 × 1120 mm
  • warrior
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • subjugation
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • stretching
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 455 × 380 mm
  • Art Fair “Art Collaboration Kyoto“
    2021
    Installation view

    Venue : Kyoto International Conference Center Event Hall (Kyoto) / photo by Nobutada Omote
  • Man with a stick ( police )
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1303 × 970 mm
  • hypochondriac /prayer
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1455 × 1120 mm
  • Supporting body ( front plank )
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1455 × 1120 mm
  • They
    2021
    oil and acrylic on corrugated plastics sheeting, 1475 × 1190 mm
  • Man with a stick ( Indian )
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1455 × 970 mm
  • They
    2021
    oil and acrylic on corrugated plastics sheeting, 1475 × 1190 mm
  • The Cow Thief
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 1620 × 1303 mm
  • The Burning Woman
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 910 × 727 mm
  • Melancholy
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 652 × 530 mm
  • juggling
    2021
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 530 × 455 mm
  • A shock (swing)
    2020
    acrylic and oil on canvas panel, 652 × 530 mm
  • Solo Exhibition “They”
    2020
    installation view
    Venue: WAITINGROOM (Tokyo) / Photo by Shintaro Yamanaka (Qsyum!)
  • They
    2020
    Oil and acrylic on corrugated plastics sheeting, 1820 × 1500 mm
  • They
    2020
    Oil and acrylic on corrugated plastics sheeting, 1820 × 1500 mm
  • Flag girl
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 1455 × 970 mm
  • Climbing (pointing)
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 1167 × 910 mm
  • The child pointing
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 910 × 727 mm
  • sitting with stick
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • maybe there
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 800 mm in dia.
  • pointing finger (mirror)
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 455 × 530 mm
  • bending body
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 455 × 380 mm
  • Woman with knife
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 1303 × 970 mm
  • The sitting man
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 910 × 727 mm
  • Waiting with plant
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 910 × 727 mm
  • I was hit by a yellow car.
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • She's lying
    2020
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 652 × 803 mm
  • They (Venus)
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 1167 × 910 mm
  • They (Leader)
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 910 × 727 mm
  • They (Lovers)
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 910 × 727 mm
  • Here and there
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • He was thinking
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • Nothing (crying)
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • Flop down
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 530 × 455 mm
  • Sleeping
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 530 × 455 mm
  • She’s sitting (Reverse)
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 333 × 242 mm
  • Sleep with a pot in her arms
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 410 × 318 mm
  • with a plant
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 455 × 380 mm
  • Scratch the nose
    2019
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 333 × 242 mm
  • She’s sitting
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 910 × 727 mm
  • a shock
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 455 × 380 mm
  • nothing (man)
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 652 × 803 mm
  • pointing finger
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 530 × 455 mm
  • Solo Exhibition “a doubtful reply”
    2018
    installation view
    Venue: WAITINGROOM (Tokyo) / Photo by Shintaro Yamanaka (Qsyum!)
  • The short answer is no and yes
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 1940 × 1303 mm
  • Sitting an’ thinking
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 1620 × 1303 mm
  • His drawing drawing
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 1620 × 1303 mm
  • It was impossible to guess whether it meant ‘yes’ or ‘no’
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 910 × 727 mm
  • She’s dropping
    2017
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • His drawing drawing
    2017
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 530 × 455 mm
  • She is there
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
  • pointing finger
    2018
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 333 × 242 mm
  • His drawing drawing
    2017
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 1829 × 1329 mm
  • Person crouching down
    2017
    oil and acrylic on canvas panel, 803 × 652 mm
/71

EXHIBITIONS

NEWS

STATEMENT

My practice involves using my own drawings made with pen on paper as an opportunity to explore the presence and existence of objects and people in two-dimensional space. Surrounded by countless flat surfaces (displays) in our daily lives, we sometimes confuse reality with the flat world. It is as if the phenomena in that depthless space were events that were actually experienced, or as if the objects and people we encounter in our daily lives suddenly feel very thin. Our perceptions oscillate between planes and bodies/objects.

When I draw with pen on paper, I wonder what the lines are following and what they mean. The lines that have been drawn before I could understand them clearly do follow the contours of a motif but transform into abstract forms through my physical habits and intuitive preconceptions. “Truth” or “accuracy” is always altered in the individual who receives it. A drawing is my most suitable solution for the world I captured, and even if it is mangled and erased, even if it is redrawn many times, it remains a response to what I saw. The acceptance and conversion of the movements of my body and the meanings that accompany them—This is what happens through my self-centered drawing of lines.

Paintings are ambiguous things that can be understood both as objects and planes. When applying a motif to a surface, the two-dimensional representations, expressed as contour lines, and the phenomenal undulation of the image arising with materiality coexist over the painting. As they are recognized by the viewer, these elements are sometimes dissolved and confused, and sometimes separated and disconnected.

Painting as a place where different layers are combined, transformed and converted. Divorced from accuracy and released along my personal physicality and memories, the motifs enter individuals and their own associations with new contours. I believe that the outlines of existence are thus wavering and vague.

CV

EDUCATION
2017

Kyoto University of Art and Design, Master’s degree, Oil Painting

2015

Kyoto University of Art and Design, Bachelor’s degree, Oil Painting

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022

The mirror crack'd from side to side, Roppongi Hills A/D Gallery, Tokyo
We are defenseless. / We are aggressive. , Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Honten, MITSUKOSHI CONTEMPORARY GALLERY, Tokyo

2020

They, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo

2018

a doubtful reply, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023

“The lens within your heart” from the TAKEUCHI COLLECTION, WHAT MUSEUM 2F, Tokyo

2022

SPRING SHOW, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo

2021

Viewing Room Exhibition, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo

2020

10TH, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo
Viewing Room Exhibition, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo

2019

Island with ONI, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo

2017

NEWSPACE, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo
The 4th CAF Award - Winning Award Exhibition, Daikanyama Hillside Forum, Tokyo
Art Students Exhibition2017, SEZON ART GALLERY, Tokyo
Kyoto University of Art and Design Master’s degree show, Galerie Aube, Kyoto

2016

movement 2016{1st movement}, ARTZONE, Kyoto
SPERT2016, Galerie Aube, Kyoto

2015

HERE I AM KUAD×TUNA Exchange Exhibition, Na pai Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
HOP2015, Galerie Aube, Kyoto
Kyoto University of Art and Design Bachelor’s degree Show, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kyoto

AWARDS
2017 The 4th CAF Award, Masami Shiraishi Award
ARTICLES
"43 editorial recommendations for writers who stand out for their charm of dots, lines, and surfaces”, Art Collectors, No.168, Mar. 2023, p.49, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
"Artists #26 Saya Okubo”, Contemporary Art Foundation, Feb.21, 2022, https://gendai-art.org/interviews/artists_sayaokubo/
"Monthly Art Guide 2021.12.25 – 2022.1.24”, p.111, Art Collectors, No.154, Jan 2022, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
Sam Gaskin “Ocula conversation | Art Collaboration Kyoto Transports the Art World to Japan”, Ocula Magazine, Nov. 2, 2021, https://ocula.com/magazine/conversations/art-collaboration-kyoto-brings-art-world-to-japan/
"Music & Art", p.39, Art Collectors, No.147, June 2021, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
“Now I get it! The World of Abstract Painting” p.51, Art Collectors, No.144, Mar 2021, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
“In 2020, I bought this!” HIRO’s collection, p.10 / “All data of sold-out artists 2021” p.36, Art Collectors, No.143, Feb 2021, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
“Look at your collection Vol.76 – Satoshi Arita”, Art Collectors, No.142, Jan 2021, p.92-93, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
Shigeyuki Maruhashi, "Contemporary art opens a new ancient city", Sankei Newspaper, Dec. 26, 2020, p.11
Kiki Kudo “kiki’s ART TRIPPER”, NYLON JAPAN, Nov. 2019, CAELUM
"The beggining of the art collector", AERA STYLE MAGAZINE, vol.42, 2019 SPRING issue, Asahi Shinbun Publications
“All data of sold-out artists 2019", Art Collectors, No.120, Mar. 2019, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
“Interest for art of global executives”, GOETHE, Jan. 2019, Gentosha
Ichiro Fukano, ”Artists of same generation are rivals. What is the party viewpoint of "outgoing" art collector, Junya Komatsu”, Muuseo Square, Nov. 2018, https://muuseo.com/square/articles/942
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