Emi Mizukami / 水上 愛美

Born in 1992, in Tokyo, Japan.
Works and lives in Tokyo.

Graduated with a BA in Oil Painting from Tama Art University in 2017.

Emi Mizukami’s paintings possess the power of persuasion and the evanescent character of a dreamlike episode. This drawing force is due, first and foremost, to the unique technical process from which they emerge. The artist accumulates a series of narrative layers on the canvas, each drawn in pencil or painted in acrylic, which are then covered with sand paste before receiving new scenes. In this way, painting proceeds as much by erasure as by addition. Even when finished, it always seems to be in the process of coming into being, like a fleeting apparition. Its uneven surface abounds in surprises, shadows, shapes in transition, and bursts of color from who knows which geological layer. The work is a palimpsest that bears the traces of past gestures and events. This material, constitutive relationship with history and the invisible is reflected in Mizukami's iconography. These often include specters and other imaginary figures drawn from the myths and folklore of various civilizations, from scholarly and popular literature, the history of painting, video games, and manga. In this way, through her bewitching paintings, the artist seems to be carrying out an archaeological excavation of our own imaginations.

She received the Excellence Award, at ACRYLIC GOUACHE BIENNALE 2018, Tokyo and the Tokyo Wonder Wall Prize in 2015.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2021
Dear sentiment (Tokas hongo/Tokyo)

2020br /> ‟TOKAS-Emerging 2020: paintings of stranger,” TOKAS Hongo, Tokyo

2016
Underflow / Large eddy (Wonder site Shibuya/Tokyo)

2015
Tokyo Wonder Wall 2015 Emi Mizukami (Tokyo Metropolitan Government No. 1 Building/Tokyo)

Selected Group Exhibitions

2020
4649 at Pina (Pina/Vienna)
LOOP HOLE 15th Anniversary Exhibition (LOOP HOLE/Tokyo)

2019
CCIFTOFF COLLECTION vol.1 ( Art Burg Building All floors/Tokyo)
RED IRON RANZAN STUDIO SHOW(RANZANSTUDIO/Saitama,Japan)
island (Art lab Hashimoto/Kanagawa ,Japan)
Super Open Studio 2019 (RED IRON STUDIO/Kanagawa ,Japan)
『Semi, セミ』(MUSEUM OF TETSUO'S GARAGE/Tochigi,Japan)
Feelings for a spider(4649/Tokyo)

2018
Curated by Fumiko Nakamura : Nowaki,Sublime,Sagamihara (Art lab Hashimoto/Kanagawa, Japan)
What the f is happening in this Riv. The river never stops running, and the water is never the same as before (akibatamabi21/Tokyo)
Super Open Studio 2018 (RED IRON STUDIO/Kanagawa.Japan)

2017
always good, always funny, always heavy, always casual (LOOPHOLE/Tokyo)