Kaoruko was born in Nagoya, Japan. She She is now living and working in New York City.
A former teen pop star with a burgeoning artistic career, KAORUKO explores the complex identity of Japanese women, caught, as she sees it, between tradition and modernity. She combines references to pop culture and ukiyo-e (traditional Japanese woodblock prints) in her large-scale paintings, in which she depicts languid, lingerie-clad young women in intimate domestic spaces, against silkscreened backgrounds of traditional kimono patterns. The women in KAORUKO’s “Aromako” series (2011), for example, are shown calmly smelling various parts of each other’s bodies, while staring straight out of the canvas, meeting our gaze straight on.
As KAORUKO explains: “I tried to use this type of confrontational imagery to express my thoughts on Japanese culture in its relation to the role that women play, both socially and politically, in [the] present day in contrast to our history.”
KAORUKO’s highly codified motifs sourced from traditional woodblock prints and textiles are juxtaposed with figures defiant against the contemporary Japanese construct of kawaii,which values the feminine in terms of ‘cuteness’and ‘adorability.’ In herAroma series,the women depicted engage in everyday activities that produce bodily odors,the very reality of which is not acknowledged by the idealized fantasy of kawaii.
While the women depicted in her paintings are frequently in various stages of undress,KAORUKO insists that this is not an eroticized state,rather it is an intimate,private view into the lives of women and their relationships with one another.In combining traditional Japanese motifs with elements of contemporary culture,KAORUKO’s imagery is imbued with a fresh take on feminism that underscores the complexity of the modern Japanese woman.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Femina, Seibu Shibuya Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2020
Kaoruko: Animism, Lyons Wier Gallery, Chelsea, New York, USA
2013
ENN, Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY
2011
Kaoruko, Mike Weiss Gallery, New Yok, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
ONLINE: Tales of Adjusted Desir,Robert Berry Galler,USA
2020
About Face: Contemporary Portraiture from the Collection of Wayne F.J. Yakes, MD, Museum of Art Fort Collins, Ft. Collins, Colorado, USA
2018
A Colossal World: Japanese Artists and New York, 1950s – Present, WhiteBox, Lower East Side, New York, USA
Grand Front, 5th Anniversary, Art Scramble event Osaka, Japan
2017
Shanlin Ye & KAORUKO: On the Verge, Jim Kempner Fine Art, Chelsea, New York, USA
The Numbers Museum Produced by Lux Tokyo, Osaka, Japan
Kyoto international Art and Music Festival, Kyoto, Japan
Kristina Huntington&Guy Regal presents, New York, NY
2014
MANA Monumental, Mana Wynwood convention Center, Miami, FL
Feel Life, Waterfall Gallery, New York, NY
2012
New Acquisitions and Prints, Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation, Jersey City, NJ
2009
Dream in a Contemporary Secret Garden: Mixed Media Works from 12 Asian Artists, Chelsea Art Museum, New York
2007
TOKYOKO, Ethan Cohan Fine Arts Gallery, New York
2002
thRift, Laforet Museum, Tokyo
2001
Cut-Out, Laforet Museum, Tokyo and Takashimaya Gallery, Osaka
2000
Capsule, Laforet Museum, Tokyo
1997
Kaoruko, Loft Gallery, Nagoya and Parco Gallery, Kumamoto
The Grande Art Exhibition, Tenpozan Museum of Modern Art, Osaka
1996
Artists of 9 Rooms, Parco Museum, Tokyo
The Keiko Doll, Laforet Museum, Tokyo
LITERATURE
2013
Mendelsohn, John. New Acquisitions and Prints from the Kaminsky Family Foundation: Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, New Jersey. dArt International, Fall/Winter 2013
Morgan, Robert C. KAORUKO at Mike Weiss Gallery, Asian Art News, Volume 22 Number 2
2012
Morgan, Robert C. KAORUKO at Mike Weiss Gallery, Asian Art News, Volume 22 Number 2 March/April 2012
New American Paintings, ed. 98, February/March 2012, cover image & p.64-67
KAORUKO Presents Aromako at the Mike Weiss Gallery, Film & Review, GoSee Cameo, December 2012
2011
KAORUKO Aromako, Must See Shows New American Paintings, December 2011
On The Cover: KAORUKO Aromako, Gallery Guide, December 2011, cover illus. & p 8 -9
KAORUKO Aramako, Top Shows to See, Lend Me Your Eyes Blog, December 2011
NYC Gallery Girl, KAORUKO: or Tokyoko, NYC Gallery Girl Blog, November 2011
NINUNINA, KAORUKO’S Aromako at Mike Weiss Gallery, NINUNINA, November 23, 2011
Galperina, Marina, This Is Not Erotic: KAORUKO’s Girl Friends’ Bliss, ANIMAL, November 16, 2011
Martinez, Alanna & Chayka, Kyle, 7 NYC Art Picks for This Week, From Ryan McLennan’s
Bestiary to Stieglitz’s Personal Treasures, ARTINFO, November 16, 2011
Bookmark: Kaoruko, Art Asia Pacific Magazine, July, 2011
2010
Cline, Carrie. A Room of Ones Own, 2010
2009
Morgan, Robert C. The Intimate Worlds of Kaoruko, 2009
2007
Sawayama, Keilchiro. Interview with Kaoruko, Phofa, December
2002
thRift, Laforet Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2001
Cut-Out, Laforet Museum, Tokyo and Takashimaya Gallery, Osaka, Japan
2000
Capsule, Laforet Museum, Tokyo, Japan
1997
Kaoruko, Loft Gallery, Nagoya and Parco Gallery, Kumamoto, Japan
The Grande Art Exhibition, Tenpozan Museum of Modern Art, Osaka, Japan
1996
Artists of 9 Rooms, Parco Museum, Tokyo, Japan
The Keiko Doll, Laforet Museum, Tokyo, Japan