Leiko Ikemura Japan, b. 1951
Lives and works between Berlin and Cologne, Germany.
Ikemura studied Spanish and linguistics at the University of Osaka, Japan. In 1972 she studied at the University of Fine Arts, Seville, Spain. She lived in Switzerland, and in 1985 she moved to Cologne, Germany. She has taught at the Berlin University of the Arts, Germany, and at the Joshibi University of Art and Design, Kanagawa, Japan.
Ikemura explores the female figure throughout her work, using trees and faces as metaphors for the human fragility. Her oniric landscapes immerse the spectator in a sensual and emotional experience, imagination being her strongest driving force.
She has had solo exhibitions at Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno; Neues Museum Nuremberg; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland; Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan, among others.
She has had group exhibitions in Denmark, Germany, France, Japan, Korea, and other countries. Ikemura has received awards such as the Prize of the Fountation for Graphic Art, Switzerland; the grant by Faber-Castell & the City of Nuremberg; and The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation.
