Location: Corridor Gallery Terrace, Park Hotel Tokyo (26F)
Admission: Free
1989 Born in Tokushima prefecture, Japan
2012 Kyoto Saga University of Arts Oil Painting Department Graduation
2014 Tokyo University of The Arts Oil Painting MFA courseGraduation
Main Activities
SOLO SHOWS
2022 “Erosion and Appearance »/ Art Gallery GRACE, Tokushima
2022 « Unnatural LOVE »/ Gallery M＆M, Tokushima
2021 « GIFT Ordinary Special things »/ Clement Plaza Tokushima
2014 « Kawaii Ceremony » ART PRNT JAPAN’s ART SHOP GALLERY in TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FORUM,
Tokyo
2012 « My Stars » Steps Gallery, Tokyo
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2022 “MIKEI Art Exhibition 2022″, Sennyu-ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan
2018 “KAN-HIKARI ART EXPO 2018” , Sennyu-ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan
2017 « Kameyama Triennale 2017 », Kameyama, Mie, Japan
2015 « JAPAN ART TASTING EXPO 2015″(Expo Milano 2015), Via delle Erbe, Milano,Italy
2014 « Geidai Art Management Plus Kagawa », The Kagawa Museum, Kagawa
2013″SICF14 SPIRAL INDEPENDENT CREATORS FESTIVAL », Spiral Hall, Tokyo
« KYOTO/CHEONGJU MEANING OF THE COMMUNICATION », SCHEMA ART MUSEUM, Korea
PROJECTS
2017 « KAWAII RATIO – 25 FOLD LOVE GIFT », New York
2016 « KAWAII RATIO – 25 FOLD LOVE GIFT », Taipei, taiwan
2013 “Ghana Project”, Republic of Ghana
2011-2018 « Happy Valentine!” Project, Kyoto, Osaka, Rome, Kobe, New York, Nagoya
Deep within me, there is a notion of kawaii.
I know that also in you, such a way of looking at things exists. Yet, you’d have to agree with me that, from person to person, the intensity of such feelings, or number of times they take place varies a great deal. Doesn’t it? In my case, I can say kawaii is always present in me. I can’t help but marvel at things of all kinds that I consider to be kawaii. Even when faced with important choices, I ask myself « Is this reallykawaii or not? » Without such a concept as kawaii, I wouldn’t know how to look at the world. For me, kawaii is something utterly indispensable and essential, and I believe that living my life in a totally kawaii way is my duty. Right now, the objects that have the strongestkawaii appeal for me are Meiji brand chocolate bars, strawberry popcorn, and cupcakes.
In my work, I address that feeling by making large amounts of replicas of those items, and arranging them in unexpected patterns and situations. My objective is not just to pile up a lot of those things together in a way in which an overflow of ‘kawaii’ ends up overwhelming the viewer, but to include ‘Miki Midori’s kawaii’ in each work in a way that transforms spaces and situations, infusing them with a blissful and happy essence. In my opinion, by taking objects I consider to have enormous amounts of kawaii appeal by themselves and enveloping my audience with them, I intend my work to help them enter a world where they can experience something of a blissful epiphany. I like to go into that happy world myself, and meet my audience inside it, sharing the experience with them. My greatest desire is to share my kawaii way of looking at life with as many people as possible, and fill the world with happiness.
I want to bring happiness to you through my artworks. I don’t think happiness has a fixed shape. I think you can be happy depending on how you feel. Therefore, not everyone who sees my artwork will be happy. But don’t you think a work of art has a lot of power? People ask me, « Did you make all of these? or « Why did you work so hard? or « It’s a lot of work… » Even if it is not the main point of the work, it may be the first experience for you to see it, or you may have a similar experience, although the content is different, and you can relate to it in life. I hope that my artwork has a positive impact, such as « I don’t know what it is, but I’m interested in it, » or « It cheered me up. I would be happy if I could be a part of your life in that way, and I think that would be happiness. That’s why pink and sweets are so cute and make me extra happy.
For me, presenting my artwork itself is like giving a gift.
When you give something as a gift, you get excited and thrilled thinking about the recipient, don’t you?
It makes me happy to know that the person I am giving it to is happy, and that I have someone to think of.
Whether it is a person or an animal, even if they are not real, imagining them or spreading the idea of them is exciting. It is exciting to imagine and expand.
Also, I think it reminds us of things.
I think it expands from the relationship with various people, places, and events.
Until now, I have been concerned with spreading my own idea of what I think is cute when I exhibit something like this, but now I hope that it is my own work of art that can also be someone else’s.
I have experienced many things in my life, and recently my artwork seems to have changed a little compared to what it was over a decade ago when I started making it.
One of my best friends wrote me a letter, « I think your works are a byproduct of your way of life. »
Like that, my artworks are my life itself and seem to be closely connected to what I am thinking at that moment and time.
Before, I used to think that if I didn’t say it clearly, people wouldn’t understand what I was thinking. So I defined my cuteness and expressed it straightforwardly.
However, I may have over-formulated it, and it gradually began to feel like I was acting it out. You might also say that I realized that there are many other ways to communicate.
So I tried colors other than pink, incorporated paintings, unleashed them freely, and did new things.
This time, I will keep the pink that I cherish, but for the first time, I will create a work of art in which fake confectionery does not exist.
I hope that my artwork this time will not be an attempt to become this kind of person, but rather a manifestation of my current self.
