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Hiroko Imada: Japanese Artist in London

Hiroko Imada: Valse Brillant, 1996, screenprint, 750 x 1070mm. Installation shots.

Hiroko Imada: Poetry in Paper

The work of Hiroko Imada has won critical acclaim in Britain, Europe and Japan but has yet to find recognition on a significant scale outside the country of her residence, the United Kingdom.

She was the only Japanese artist invited to show her work at the Jerash Festival in Jordan in July-August 1998. The experience of an unusually hot summer period in the Hashemite Arab kingdom has been a revelation and indeed something of an adventure for her.

Although as a Londoner Hiroko Imada is used to living amidst a cosmpolitan maelstrom -- she actually seems to thrive in it -- Jerash with all its cultural richness and diversity and a laid-back attitude to whatever life brings may have been a demanding experience. She has come back from it refreshed and no doubt inspired for future work.

Imada's current oeuvre comprises 'paper works' -- from delicate ephemeral gauzes and sculptures to paintings and lithographs of beguiling beauty and power. Some of this work was exhibited recently at her exhibition in a Cotwolds gallery.

Using her lithographer's skills and her knowledge of and expertise in papermaking, Hiroko has managed to deliver an amazing array of images that at first glance may seem like impromptu splashes of colour -- or playful explorations with the brush. They are however mostly sophisticated and expertly executed lithographs that reveal Imada's deft use of the medium.

Her engagement with poetry and music, which becomes manifest in many of her sculptures and installations, indicates that, in another life perhaps, Hiroko Imada would have made a consummate composer of music -- or at least a pianist.

While this seems to have been a loss to the worlds of literature and music, it is certainly a huge gain for the world of visual arts.

Biographical Note

Born: Tokyo 1962.

Education: Tokyo University of Art and Design (1984-1988) then The Slade School of Fine Art, London (1990-1992), postgraduate in printmaking.

Exhibitions: (selected list); Gallery Lunami Tokyo, 1993; Falmouth, England, 1995; Kenkou Gallery Taka, Tokyo, 1995; Daiwa Foundation London, 1996; Newbury, England, 1997; R K Gallery London, 1997; Newbury, 1998; plus group shows in the UK, Portugal, Slovenia and Japan.

Collections: Private and public collections in the UK, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Japan.

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