Between the Visible
and the Invisible:
Awai

Yoshiyuki Izuoka　　

Contemporary Textile Painter

Artist Statement

Between the Visible and the Invisible: Awai

Frustrated by color vision variance and cast into deep isolation, I was saved from despair at the age of twenty-five when I encountered the art of dyeing on silk.

Since ancient times, people have expressed themselves by applying color and pattern to cloth. Fabric—the medium most intimately tied to human existence—is an art form residing right beside our daily lives.

Through a quarter-century of my artistic practice, I faced severe illness and the loss of my mother. The world of Noh theater, encountered along this path, brought me a profound conviction: that what is visible to the eye is not all that exists, and that my own color vision variance is itself a rich spectrum through which to perceive the world.

The visible and the invisible, the concrete and the abstract—these seemingly separate poles are continuously interconnected through Awai, the space between. Through the subtle bleeding and fluctuations of color seeped into silk fabric, I present the boundless possibilities that expand within this realm of Awai.

Biography & CV

Selected Chronology

2026 The artwork "Shishi-oh Kotan"(The Birth of the Lion King) dedicated to Munenori Takeda, Kanze-school Noh Shite-kata / Takeda Shutenkan, Tokyo → View Details
2025 The artwork "Ran" was dedicated to Toyohiko Sugiura, a Kanze-school Noh performer (shite-kata),→ View details here
2025 Between the Visible and Invisible: Yoshiyuki Izuoka Solo Exhibition, Art Ai Kisa, Miyoshi, Hiroshima
2017 Three Artists from Japan and Korea, K Gallery, Haeundae, Busan, South Korea
2017 Selected Artist-in-Residence (16th Term), Yachiyo-no-Oka Museum of Art, Akitakata, Hiroshima
2014 Awarded Special Prize, Busan Art Biennale, Busan, South Korea
2008 Group Exhibition The World Drawn on Fabric: Textile Dyeing Exhibition, Hatsukaichi Art Gallery, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima
2007 Group Exhibition Winds of the East, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, USA
2001–2002 Awarded Prize, World Picture Book Exhibition, Matsuzakaya Department Store (Ginza, Tokyo) / Toured to Toronto, Canada (2002)
1997 Returned to Japan; Held first solo exhibition in Hiroshima
1995 Apprenticed under Md. Salleh Bin Dawam, Western-style painter whose works are in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Malaysia; Malaysia
1989 Graduated from Hiroshima Prefectural Kannon High School (Forced to abandon aspirations for fine arts university due to color vision deficiency)
1978 Inspired by Impressionist masterpieces at the Hiroshima Museum of Art; Resolved to become a painter
1970 Born in Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

Solo Exhibitions

Domestic (Japan)

Hiroshima Mitsukoshi (Hiroshima)
Kokura Izutsuya (Kitakyushu)
Nagoya Sakae Mitsukoshi (Nagoya)
Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin (Fukuoka)
Hanshin Department Store Umeda Main Store (Osaka)
Tokiwa Head Office (Oita)
Yonago Takashimaya (Yonago)
Yamakataya (Kagoshima)

International

SOMArts Cultural Center (San Francisco, USA)
K Gallery (Haeundae, Busan, South Korea)
Solo Exhibitions in Malaysia, and others

Public & Private Collections

Public Collections

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Municipal Museums of Art
Public and Private Hospitals
Luxury Hotels
Premier Department Stores, and numerous others

Private Collections

Extensively held in private contemporary art collections both across Japan and internationally.

Contact