Artists

Haruomi Izumi is a successor of “Nihonga,” the Japanese-style painting which has been practiced over centuries. The word Nihonga was developed as the opposite or counter word, to the word Yo-ga, or Western painting, and is often characterized by the use of traditional materials such as mineral pigments, a binder made of animal glue, washi paper, as well as the choice of subject matter such as nature and animals. Izumi studied Nihonga at Tokyo University of the Arts. Izumi’s signature works, including Yukoku (The Scarlet Hour) and Sokoku (The Blue Hour), depart from traditional Nihonga and combine surreal color with obsessively repetitive patterns of trees. In this way, Izumi creates deeply textured scenes that encompass their surroundings and engulf the viewer with their rich aura.

“Nature has a perfect beauty and I don’t find it interesting to only copy it in my painting,” says Izumi. “I pursue new beauty by eliminating randomness and creating patterns from a single motif and then simplifying elements I find in nature.” Izumi’s works are included in the collections of The Sato Sakura Art Museum, Chiba Bank, Keiyo Bank, Hulic Co., Ltd., and i-com’s Co., Ltd.

Profile

Born in Chiba, Japan in 1979
Lives and works in Chiba, Japan
Worked as part time instructor at Tokyo University of the Arts between 2010 to 2012
Presently a member of the Japan Artists Association
【Education】
2005 Received Master’s degree at Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Design, Painting and Decoration Studio
2003 Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, School of Fine Art, Major in Nihonga
【Selected Solo Exhibitions】
2023 Haruomi Izumi Nihonga-ten (Ikebukuro Tobu, Tokyo; Funabashi Tobu, Chiba)
2022 Haruomi Izumi Nihonga-ten (Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo)
2021 Haruomi Izumi Nihonga-ten (Niigata Isetan, Niigata)
2020 Haruomi Izumi: Blue Hour (SEIZAN Gallery, New York)
2019 Haruomi Izumi NIhonga-ten: Kankaku no Senren (Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo)
2016 Solo Exhibition (Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo)
2014 Solo Exhibition (Chiba Bank Art Gallery, Tokyo)
2013 Solo Exhibition (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
2011 Solo Exhibition (Keiyo Bank, Chiba, through 2014)
2010 Solo Exhibition (Sendai Mitsukoshi, Miyagi)
2009 Solo Exhibition (Chiba Bank Art Gallery, Tokyo)
【Selected Group Exhibitions】
2022 Art Market Hamptons (SEIZAN Gallery booth, Nova’s Art Project & Sculpture Park, New York)
2021 Fresh Air (SEIZAN Gallery, New York)
Mori no Miyako no Art Fair: Haruomi Izumi (Sendai Mitsukoshi, Miyagi)
JOKER (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
2020 A Single Ant Bite (SEIZAN GALLERY TOKYO凸, Tokyo)
Online Exhibition “Jo Sai Sho Fuku (Ward off Calamities, Invite Good Luck) : Gods and Yokai in the Time of Pandemic” (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo; SEIZAN Gallery, New York)
Art on Paper(SEIZAN Gallery booth, Pier 36, New York)
Intersect Chicago/SOFA Online
2019 Reimagined: Contemporary Artists Take on The Tale of Genji (SEIZAN Gallery, New York)
Affordable Art Fair Battersea(London)
Seattle Art Fair (SEIZAN Gallery booth, Centurylink Field Event Center, Seattle, continued in 2023)
2018 DELTA (Sendai Mitsukoshi, Miyagi; Sapporo Mitsukoshi, Hokkaido; Fukuoka Mitsukoshi, Fukuoka)
NIHONGA: CONTEMPORARY ART OF JAPAN (SEIZAN Gallery, New York)
The 45th Soga-ten (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo)
Nikitama (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
Shunki Soga-ten” (Seibu Ikebukuro, Tokyo)
2017 The Red: Men (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
DELTA: Nihonga Sannin-ten (Niigata Mitsukoshi, Niigata)
2016 Asahi Charity Bijutsuten (Matsuya Ginza, Tokyo through 2019)
20th Anniversary Special Exhibition (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
DELTA (Sendai Mitsukoshi, Miyagi)
2015 ShinPA in Suwa (Kitazawa Art Museum, Nagano)
Art Wonderland (Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo)
2013 Ouka Prize Exhibition (Sato Sakura Art Museum Tokyo, continued in 2017)
Venice Biennale “Imago Mundi: Collection of Luciano Benneton” (Venice)
SENSU-ten (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
2012 Wakate Sakka Nihonga-ten: Korekara (Hiroshima)
Wakate Sakka Nihonga-ten: Kaleidoscope (Shinsaibashi, Osaka, continued every year afterward)
Mitsukoshi x Geidai, Natsu no Geijutsusai 2012 (Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo)
2011 Higashi Nihon Daishinsai Fukkou Charity Auction (Tokyo Art Club, Tokyo)
2010 Haru wo Mederu Kaiga-ten (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
Something Precious (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, through 2019)
2009 Tokyo Contemporary Art Fair 2009 (Tobi Art Forum, Tokyo)
2008 Wave 2008: Hana no Kai (Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, through 2012)
2006 Sakka no Tamago-ten (Obuse Museum, Nagano, name later changed to ShinPA!, through 2020)
L’Espoir-ten (Tokyo)
2005 Hato no Kai (Traveled through Japan, held every year since)
【Public Collections】
Sato Sakura Art Museum (Tokyo)
Chiba Bank, Keiyo Bank
Hulic Co., Ltd.
i-com’s Co., Ltd.
Denzuin Temple (Tokyo)
Suzukikai Medical Corporation (Niigata)
【Publications】
2012 Regular column in Technical Seminar material “Bijutsu no Mado” March, April, and May
【Awards】
2005 Design award for Graduate Thesis Work (Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo)
2004 Honorable Mention for the 15th Garyu Sakura Nihonga Taisho-ten (Gifu)