Oscar Oiwa

Works of Oiwa, as though veiled over the surface, attract the viewers' perspective into the depth of the plane. His interest in social matters, caught at first in newspapers and articles on internet, will be visualized through elaborative research and drawing process. The finished image, sometimes grandiose and apocalyptic, depicts the life and society with his characteristic sense of humor. Born in Sao Paulo, he graduated from Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at Sao Paulo University. While working in an architectural studio in Japan where his parents are issued from, he exhibited gradually in artistic events to become an artist. Awarded the grant from Asian Cultural Council and John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, he moved to New York in 2002 where he lives since then. Recently he exhibited in Brazil, Korea and Japan. His solo exhibit in 2019 at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa attracted more than 150,000 visitors.

-1965 Born in Sao Paulo

-1989 Graduated from Sao Paulo University, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism / Sao Paulo

-lives and works in New York

Solo Exhibitions

-2024 OSCARSCAPE / Tower 49 Gallery / New York

-2024 Light Shop / Ginza Tsutaya Atrium / Tokyo

-2024 Light Shop / Kyoto Tsutaya Atrium / Kyoto

-2024 Oil Octopus in the era of turbulent / Hikarie Cube Gallery / Tokyo

-2023 If I were Living In... / Guryongpo Art Factory / Gyeongsangbuk-do / South Korea

-2023 My Ring / Art Front Gallery / Tokyo

-2023 Art at First Time / ROPPONGI HILLS A/D GALLERY / Tokyo

-2022 The Dreams of a Sleeping World exhibition / Seaside Art Gallery, Haikou Port, Pingtung County / TAIWAN

-2021 Oscar Oiwa: Quarantine Series / Art Front Gallery / Tokyo

-2020 Dreams of a Sleeping World, USC Pacific Asia Museum / Pasadena

-2019 Oscar Oiwa. Rio, Tokyo, Paris: Cities and Games, La Maison de la Culture du Japon, Paris

-2019 Oscar Oiwa: Journey to the Light, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa / Ishikawa

-2016 Oscar Oiwa: the World is Filled with Light / Art Front Gallery / Tokyo

-2012 Traveling Light, Art Front gallery, Shibuya Hikarie /8 Cube / Tokyo

-2012 Traveling Light, Keumsan gallery / Seoul

-2011 Works by Oscar Oiwa, Galerie Agathe Helion / Paris

-2011 Oscar Oiwa / National Museum / Rio de Janeiro

-2011 After Midnight, Thomas Cohn Gallery / Sao Paulo

-2009 Asian Kitchen, Beijing / China

-2008 The Dreams of a Sleeping World, Museum of Contemporary Art / Tokyo, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of art / Fukushima, Takamatsu City Museum of Art / Kagawa, Japan （2009）

-2007 Five shop, P.P.O.W. / New York

-2006 Gardening with Oscar Oiwa: New Paintings, Arizona State University Art Museum / Arizona

-2006 Invisible Reflex: 1993-2006 Retrospective, Ikeda Museum of 20 Century Art / Shizuoka, Japan

Group Exhibitions

-2025 ART SG 2025 / Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center / Singapore

-2024 Luo Shan Feng Art Festival in Taiwan / 2024落山風藝術季 / Seaside Gallery / Taiwan

-2024 Takahashi Ryutaro Collection / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo / Tokyo

-2023 Luo Shan Feng Art Festival in Taiwan / 2023落山風藝術季 / Seaside Gallery / Taiwan

-2023 2023 Keelung Ciao / Zhengbin Fishing Port / Taiwan

-2023 The Secret of the Lake - The River Became a Lake / Ichihara Lakeside Museum / Chiba

-2023 Taipei Dangdai 2023 / Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center / Taiwan

-2023 Taiwan Lantern Festival / Taipei

-2022 Setouchi Trienalle 2022 / Ogijima, Kagawa

-2022 The Echigo-Tsumari Art Field / Niigata

-2022 Range of the Senses: What It Means to “Experience” Today / The National Museum of Art / Osaka

-2021 MOT Collection：Journals / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo / Tokyo

-2019 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS) 2019 / Shanghai, China

-2018 Beyond the End: Ruins in Art History, Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo / Tokyo

-2017 Japan Alps Art Festival, Omachi / Nagano

-2016 Setouchi Triennale 2016, Ogi island, Shodo island / Kagawa, Japan

-2014 Japon, Abbeye Saint d’Andre centre d’art contemporain Meymac / France

-2014 Land of Sunlight-Oscar Oiwa and Japanese-Brazilian Artists / Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, Japan

-2013 Setouchi Triennale 2013, Ogi island, Ibuki island / Kagawa, Japan

-2013 Peace Meets Art!, Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum / Hiroshima, Japan

-2013 The Group 1965, “We are Boys.", Kamada Kyosaikai Folk Museum / Kagawa, Japan

-2013 Unconsciousness of the city, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo / Tokyo, Japan

-2013 MOT collection Our Ninety Years: 1923 -2013, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo / Tokyo, Japan

-2011 Global New Art, SEIJI TOGO MEMORIAL SOMPO JAPAN MUSEUM OF ART / Tokyo, Japan

-2011 The Group 1965, “We are Boys!", Kunsthalle / Dusseldorf, Art Arsenal / Kiev

-2010 Setouchi International Art Festival / Kagawa, Japan

-2009 Sacred Monsters: Everyday Animism in Contemporary Japanese Art, Tufts University Art Gallery / MA

-2007 The (s)files, el Museo del Barrio / New York

-2007 Niigata Water and Land Art Festival / Niigata, Japan

Awards

-1995 The Delfina Studio, Artist in Residence Award / London

-1996 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant / New York

-2002 Grant from Asian Cultural Council Tokyo / New York

-2001 Grant from John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation / New York

Collection / Public Art

-21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art / Kanazawa Mori Art Museum

-Toyota Municipal Museum of Art / Aichi The National Museum of Modern Art / Tokyo

-Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art / Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art / Tokyo

-Yokohama Museum of Art / Kanagawa Takamatsu Art Museum / Kagawa

-Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art / Fukushima Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi / Gunma

-Utsunomiya Museum of Art / Tochigi Ikeda Museum of 20th Century Art / Shizuoka

-Faret Tachikawa / Tokyo Arizona State University Art Museum / Arizona Phoenix Art Museum / Phoenix