Artist Statement
Misa creates works with enigmatic motifs and gestural marks, gracefully oscillating on the boundary between semi-abstraction and vaguely recognisable figurative or landscape.
In the human-centric world that is driven to understand it often through analysis, study, and explanation in disciplines like science and mathematics, unknown and uncertainty may evoke discomfort. But the world exists in constant flux and has domains that transcend human senses and conceptions. The mysterious and unknown realm offers us the space where we can grow our imaginations as well as hopes and infinite possibilities.
Having grown up in Japan where animism and reverence to nature is culturally more prevalent, Misa has long felt an affinity for embracing mysteries and imaginations rather than explanations and logics. Through her practice, she envisions the elusive realms between describable and indescribable, certainty and mystery, and consciousness and intuition.
Misa’s creative process is inspired by folklore, mythology, and poetry, which expand her perception and deepen her connection to the world’s hidden layers. She collects marks and shapes through process of mark making, collage, and printmaking. Guided by spontaneity and intuition, there is a sense of uncovering the images with layers of marks and shapes. The images are the results of play between chance and control, randomness and inevitabilities, much like nature itself.
BIO
Misa was born in Japan and has lived in the UK for the last 20 years. She completed an MA in Printmaking at Camberwell College of Arts in 2013 and is a recipient of the Bainbridge Studio Award and the Intaglio Printmaker Awards at The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers National Original Print Exhibition. She regularly exhibits at the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair.
CV
Education
Sept 2022-2023 TURP Correspondence course
Sept 2013 MA in Printmaking, Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London
Mar 2011 UAL level 4 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, Citylit (awarded by UAL)
Sept 1999 LLB in Law, University of Warwick
Exhibitions
Dec 2024 Southwark Art Gallery Exhibition, London
Nov 2024 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
Nov 2024 Southwark Park Galleries Open 2024, London
Oct 2024 “Playground” group exhibition by Swan Art, The Handbag Factory Gallery, London
Oct 2023 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
Sept 2023 Group show, “do not swallow”, London
Mar 2023 Solo show, “In praise of fragments”, Jeannie Avent Gallery, London
Oct 2022 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
Mar 2022 Solo show, “Second sight”, Jeannie Avent Gallery, London
Oct 2021 The Other Art Fair, London
Mar 2021 Solo show, “the other way to listen”, Jeannie Avent Gallery, London
Oct 2020 Art2Life Exhibition, online
Nov 2019 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
Oct 2019 Roy’s Art Fair, the Old Truman Brewery, London
Sept 2019 National Original Print Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London
Mar 2019 Artist’s talk “Us as Nature”, Citylit, London
Jan 2019 The Structure of Things, Bearspace Gallery, London
Sept 2018 National Original Print Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London
Aug 2018 Japan Exhibition, West Yorkshire Print Workshop, Yorkshire
Oct 2017 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
Oct 2017 Awagami International Miniature Print Exhibition, Japan
July 2016 Small Print International, touring exhibition in England
Feb 2016 New Home, Mile End Art Pavilion, London
May 2014 Bainbridge Open, Embassy Gallery, London
Dec 2013 Without Boundaries, Menier Gallery, London
Award/ Prize
Sept 2019 Intaglio Printmaker’s prize at National Original Print Exhibition
May 2014 Excellence in Printmaking by East London Printmakers at Bainbridge Open
Sep 2013 Bainbridge Studio Award
Residencies
Nov 2024 JOYA artist residency, Spain
July 2018 Officina Stamperia Del Notaio, Italy
