If you click title, you can see image and comment.
Grand Prix
Artist | Title | High Quality Image | Year | Size(H×W) | Technique/Materials |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Taro Kondo | 2018 | 162×130 | Oil and glue on canvas |
Ecumenical Prize
Artist | Title | High Quality Image | Year | Size(H×W) | Technique/Materials |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ryota Tanaka | 2018 | 130.3×162 | Acrylic on canvas |
Artist | Title | High Quality Image | Year | Size(H×W) | Technique/Materials |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Satsuki Nakata | 2018 | 111×145 | Acrylic and colored pencil on wooden panel |
Artist | Title | High Quality Image | Year | Size(H×W) | Technique/Materials |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daijiro Takahashi | 2018 | 145×145 | Acrylic, India ink and pencil on paper |
Artist | Title | High Quality Image | Year | Size(H×W) | Technique/Materials |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Atsuko Yamashita | 2018 | 162×130 | Oil on canvas |
Artist | Title | High Quality Image | Year | Size(H×W) | Technique/Materials |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Takafumi Suzuki | 2018 | 162×130 | Wood engraving and acrylic on wooden panel |
Special Student Prize
Selected Works
Artist | Title | High Quality Image |
---|---|---|
Kana Akamatsu | ||
Mizuki Ashikawa | ||
Rie Aya | ||
Niki Ando | ||
Maika Ikeda | ||
Lee Jiyoun | ||
Mayuko Ichikawa | ||
So Imaizumi | ||
Haruki Ueda | ||
saori uemura | ||
Megumi Egawa | ||
Shu Okamoto | ||
Chihiro Kudo | ||
Moeko Kudo | ||
Shikoh Kuramochi | ||
Risa Goto | ||
Gen Kobayashi | ||
Haruka Shima | ||
Satoka Shimizu | ||
FionaTomoko Suzuki | ||
Nana Tsugawa | ||
Hiroshi Tsujihara | ||
Moe Tsubosaka |
Artist | Title | High Quality Image |
---|---|---|
Shinnosuke Tojo | ||
Kaho Narusawa | ||
Hiroko Nemoto | ||
Haruno | ||
Eri Hirano | ||
Emi Hiramatsu | ||
Yohei Fujino | ||
Kaori Furuhashi | ||
Masanori Hongo | ||
Moeko Machida | ||
Takuya Mizukami | ||
Hiro Miyahara | ||
Yukiko Morimoto | ||
Tomoshi Yasuda | ||
Takahiro Yamauchi | ||
Rie Yamaguchi | ||
Maya Yamamoto | ||
Masako Yoshitake | ||
Hanako Yoshida | ||
Shohei Yoshino | ||
Rikako | ||
Le Mette Adeline | ||
Haruka Watakabe |
Unauthorized use or reproduction of any photographs on our site is prohibited.
Grand Prix Taro Kondo "Self Portrait I"

“Observing the self” is one of the themes of my work. This doesn't necessarily mean looking at myself in a mirror or in photos; I think self-awareness is more complex than that. The self accumulates through observing others. In addition, I am thrilled and elated that this work is going to be seen by many people through this exhibition. I hope my painting will lead to new discoveries and wonder among visitors. |
Atsuhiko Shima Prize Ryota Tanaka "repulsive force"

At times, I observe myself as if I were another person, and feel that I'm waiting in anticipation for the next undertaking that will prevent, through the medium of painting, the observed figure from becoming a fixed interpretation. |
Atsushi Shinfuji Prize Satsuki Nakata "Tip of the toe of cloud"

I have come to understand that to love someone is a very painful thing. One is helpless. Just about the only thing I can do is paint and pray. |
Yasuyuki Nakai Prize Daijiro Takahashi "Great Journey"

My recent working method firstly involves the depiction of things and events that capture my attention in daily life, which are then developed in the painted surface. |
Tomoko Yabumae Prize Atsuko Yamashita "I love you."

I create work by directing the thoughts, feelings, and motivations in my mind toward the canvas. The creative process begins with the making of a support. |
Chika Osaka Prize Takafumi Suzuki "The Sonic Speed love letter"

My work is always an attempt to capture the smallest of voices, and retain them through their depiction as fragments of an image. These small voices can be understood to be the day-to-day pressure felt in the hearts of each of us, including myself. Through my work, I want to show the existence of the heart accompanied by a sense of timelessness beyond comprehension. I hope that the traces of my actions?the application of black color onto wooden board, which is then carved into directly to create the image? will resonate in the hearts of viewers. |
Special Student Prize Miki Fukagawa "untitled"

When I make a painting, I apply paint or transfer printed materials onto the canvas, adding words and brushstrokes that act as a trigger to further develop the painting. I then select shapes, lines and colors that appear through this process in an attempt to give concrete form to the image that appears through the combination of elements. In addition, I use this kind of methodology as a means of experimentation to consider alternative ways of looking at my paintings. |
Special Student Prize Yosuke Yamanouchi "solitude"

Currently, I paint ideas that come to mind at random. |
Selected Works Kana Akamatsu "Green early afternoon"

I cannot forget those instants when connections form between what at first appear to be unrelated events, causing the visible scenery to change completely. I think that a painting is achieved at the moment when disparate elements find their correct position in the image. I strive to paint that moment when each motif transcends its own singular meaning and combines together to form a single painting. I want to re-encounter unforgettable moments through painting. |
Selected Works Mizuki Ashikawa "date of birth 2"

When walking outside, I cannot help but feel a sense of vividness in the unexpected glimpses of people's lives seen through windows and gaps in gardens. Such sights appear more real than reality itself. It may seem cruel to accept the dullness of the everyday, but I want to give concrete form to my feelings through my paintings. |
Selected Works Rie Aya "Trembling of existence"

Rather than trying to paint something from a white surface where all manner of possibilities lie hidden, I paint lines while relying on the ceaseless flow of abstract words. The object of my gaze is constantly fluctuating. I too am constantly moving as I try to paint. The image I attempt to affix to the support also begins to quiver against the surrounding ground. While not being drawn in by its movement, I quietly try to bring composure to the object by thinking that I am painting myself. |
Selected Works Niki Ando "Road of Souls I"

Over the last few years, I have painted flowers dedicated to those who have passed away, and this painting is a continuation of this body of work. Sometimes, these flowers personify the deceased themselves. I usually depict sunflowers or Christmas roses. The sunflower is a flower that blooms in August, the season of the dead, while the Christmas rose has an association with accounts of battlefields. I sense the existence of a past world that I have never experienced in which only flowers such as these are in bloom. |
Selected Works Maika Ikeda "Self-portrait"

Lots of living creatures exist inside me. They are all creatures of my own creation, but they are also a part of me. |
Selected Works Lee Jiyoun "Approx. 90 minutes drive from Sydney CBD・NSW"

When trying to paint a picture by tracing memories, the influence of unexpected exterior elements absent from my initial thoughts and feelings come to accumulate in an unforeseen manner. Following the flow of consciousness as it struggles amidst these changes, the minor and noticeable brush marks?both successes and failures?come to accumulate in the pictorial space. As the unexpected meanings and images sought through this process come to appear on the wet surface, at times it is possible to achieve a painting whose entire surface is filled with brushstrokes resembling a veil of mist. Thus, the painterly language produced by my physical movements is complete. |
Selected Works Mayuko Ichikawa "self-portrait"

I create spaces by drawing lines that respond to the flow of forms and movements of my heart. |
Selected Works So Imaizumi "I can't wait for chance with crouching start."

I make paintings based on the theme of personal events and emotions that make up the “self.” This work represents me at a time when I was unable to endure a situation even when presented with a chance to escape it, leading to my flying into a rage. |
Selected Works Haruki Ueda "Transparent forest"

I often refer to the figures I depict as “those people” or “neighbors.” Having grown up in the mountains of Nara, the sense that the forest depths are not an area we should enter is ingrained in my mind as a matter of course. I paint while conscious of this side and the “other,” as well as the boundary between them. |
Selected Works saori uemura "B"

I painted a picture for the first time. Various things happened in my life before and after finishing it. For me, painting is a medium chosen only when I have something I want to say. It is something like a serious whim. |
Selected Works Megumi Egawa "Hot Pants"

My job is to paint. I leave its understanding and interpretation to the viewer. The work truly reaches completion in a given moment. Is my work complete? |
Selected Works Shu Okamoto "Description"

I examine the standard by which unconventional forms of painting are evaluated by considering the cultural history and narrative nature of painting, with the aim of creating an experience of multilayered and accessible paintings suspended between conviction and incongruity. In the work presented here, I consciously tried to diffuse the viewer's gaze by creating a circular movement within the pictorial frame through multiple perspectives and motifs, coming and going between two different methods of framing?the image seen within a frame, and the image seen on its own. |
Selected Works Chihiro Kudo "Sign"

I had a feeling that, when sensing signs of war, people become endearing and beautiful as if in resistance. When contemplating this notion, I suddenly remembered a figure resembling that of Ares Borghese who, despite representing the god of war, displays beauty without wildness, and both anger and benevolence. I made this painting while contemplating that connections also exist between seemingly contradictory emotions. |
Selected Works Moeko Kudo "The three wise monkeys"

It was around 29 years ago that I was born, in the first year of Heisei (1989). |
Selected Works Shikoh Kuramochi "pure white dress"

I make work based on the theme of resistance against “imposed harmony within society as a community.” I think we ought to welcome the existence of people (and things) beyond our control who, no matter how much love is shown, remain unresponsive and who may even show a clear aversion to such treatment. I believe people become indulgent and are corrupted by this deficiency. |
Selected Works Risa Goto "blank space (3)"

I feel that trivial everyday landscapes, both in Japan and overseas, can sometimes be truly universal. I made work this year while conscious of the invisible spaces in such landscapes. Since my method of working involved installing quickly on a flat surface due to money and space restrictions, there may be a strong sense of a space being created as opposed to a more conventional method of painting. |
Selected Works Gen Kobayashi "Infection"

In a former era, notions shared among a certain group expanded with occasional flashes of madness, generating a chaotic, emotional landscape. Such occurrences make people blind and lead to the loss of reason. |
Selected Works Haruka Shima "underground #2"

I took a photo of a miniature garden I created, and then made this painting while referring to the photo. The reason I inserted the media of photography into the creative process is because a photo will give the subject a sense of flatness no matter how raw the real thing is. What kind of interpretation is possible after seeing (observing) a flat image? This is what interests me, and painting is an extension of this preoccupation. |
Selected Works Satoka Shimizu "Pretend to be out 2"

This is a picture that holds together even if a part is added or removed, or existing parts rearranged. Upon observation, one can see that while trying to arrange parts of the world other than myself in an attractive manner, I simultaneously want somehow to escape this arrangement. I'm not interested in wanting to appear in such-and-such a way, or draw to such-and-such a standard. But at the very least, I'm painting because I'm here and here exists. How much can distractions be kept to a minimum? Pretending that I don't know anything about the world outside, I draw under the pretense that I'm not at home while blatantly still being there. |
Selected Works Fiona Tomoko Suzuki "magical garden"

This was a work made at a time when I was trying to find out what kind of painting I wanted to create, and I'm very surprised that it was selected for this competition and will be seen by many visitors. I hope I can also learn something during the exhibition. |
Selected Works Nana Tsugawa "A Town of Alleyways"

It has been about nine years since I started living in a town with many alleyways and sightseeing spots. Events this year included an escaped convict living in hiding nearby, and the experience of waiting for two hours at a public bathhouse after the water supply had been cut off due to heavy rain. I still live there with the feeling of being an outsider, but I have come to grasp a sense of the town. |
Selected Works Hiroshi Tsujihara "Love Song"

I always look upon the canvas I put in front of me as if for the first time, and I cannot repeat things depicted in other paintings. If this is always true, then it is a very precarious and frightening state of mind in comparison to consciousness in daily life. For this reason, there is a temptation to replace such feelings with what is familiar or known in advance, but I cannot do so. If I can cherish my feelings in the present, then I can be the first to encounter something like the truth of each painting. |
Selected Works Moe Tsubosaka "piles II"

Recently, I have an interest in three things: 1.The difference between exterior and interior born from drawing a circle with a line; 2.The boundary between “line” and “figure,” and 3.The relationship between the size of the space where the work is produced, the size of the canvas, and the movement of the body. |
Selected Works Shinnosuke Tojo "monri"

I have feelings of anxiety, fear and doubt when inadvertently seeing virtual images. I feel convinced and assured even when making something that is visible in real life, for example. In this sense, the process of remaking for me may constitute an error of memory and concept. |
Selected Works Kaho Narusawa "Regain my body"

My body was mine when I was born. However, in the process of being divided into various properties such as nationality, gender, occupation, and health condition, I have gradually come to feel a sense of losing my own body. |
Selected Works Hiroko Nemoto "Flower crown"

I make paintings by establishing a story and characters according to the motif while consolidating the image. I adopt various styles, from fully developed stories to single moments captured in a single frame. |
Selected Works Haruno "cord"

Liberated from thought I leave my actions to another self rather than consciously applying control. |
Selected Works Eri Hirano "My Diary XII"

Having experienced human life and its final stages close at hand while working in welfare and medical centers, I have come to make work through a process of trial and error that adopts themes of human dignity, the preciousness and transience of life, and living and dying. Born out of the repeated drawing and accumulation of lines, my paintings are a personal daily record of feelings that cannot easily be expressed in words, while they also exist as a record of living here in this moment. |
Selected Works Emi Hiramatsu "Moon is good if in a mirror"

Taking red thread and crows as my motif, I strive to depict that part of my heart that is poisoned. |
Selected Works Yohei Fujino "Backstage"

It was in 2005 or 2006 that I first applied to the Shell Art Prize. Since then, I have entered three works every year without fail. I cannot forget the excitement of being selected for the first time in 2008. I'm fortunate to have been selected again in this the final year that I am eligible to participate. My paintings are based on photos that I take myself. I hastily took the photo used for this work because I was captivated by the appearance of a walking figure with a mask on the back of his head. I wasn't sure I could make a painting from the image at the time, but I managed to do so. |
Selected Works Kaori Furuhashi "flames"

The other side is burning. |
Selected Works Moeko Machida "The place for all life"

I make works that take rocks as motif, adopting the theme “what is life?” In recent years, I have come to focus on the existence of creatures and people on the periphery of rocks, and since participating in Asuka Art Village last year, I create work on the theme of “tombs.” Many old graveyards still exist in Asuka Village even today, which contain remains that have apparently been buried directly in the ground. Stronger than any image of death, I keenly felt the circulation of life in the creatures that pervade the soil, and in the sight of stones lined up in the earth as symbols. |
Selected Works Takuya Mizukami "Blue Eyes (Pirarucu)"

The theme of my work is “oneness.” In order to leave a beautiful earth for future descendents, what should humans do? Have we taken too much, caused too much pollution, or used too much? I want to promote the brightness of life in living creatures through my paintings. The boundary between water and air, and things with concrete form; the boundary between concrete and abstract forms; the boundary between adults and children, and the boundary between life and death. I paint with the conviction that there is truth to be found in the boundaries between various things. |
Selected Works Hiro Miyahara "I saw it with my eyes and my head."

1I take approximately 100 photos a day, and of those I'm only satisfied with about four images. The pictures that weren't satisfactory consist of subjects that impressed me, but which I wasn't able to capture in the viewfinder. By replacing these images with paintings, I believe I can express my initial emotion and even something more. |
Selected Works Yukiko Morimoto "Bremen on the Tour"

When I was young, I had a longing to relate with animals as you would a partner. However in reality, birds and stray cats would slip my hands, and even dogs wouldn't take to me. |
Selected Works Tomoshi Yasuda "0.631ppi_33"

The original scene lying behind the image that emerges out of the composition of colors, the emphasis of the physical paint that prevents the subject from being revealed, and the strong presence of individual colors come to intertwine, leading to uncertainty about what one is viewing. |
Selected Works Takahiro Yamauchi "march carving"

I consider painting to be a medium for the conveyance of something. |
Selected Works Rie Yamaguchi "FLOW I"

In this painting, I mixed black and white paint at the point where a film had formed on the paint's surface so as to prevent the colors from blending with one another. The specific weight of black and white paint is different, with black paint possessing greater weight. If one uses a pouring technique so that the paint gathers like a puddle on the surface, the black paint will move to the deeper recesses, while the white paint will move to the shallow area. Where does the boundary exist between them? |
Selected Works Maya Yamamoto "After all, she sees something different from what you see."

The soft skin, measured breathing and fortitude of a close friend; the air and light produced by the surrounding trees. I don't have a particular concept, but I try to capture such moments as the brush moves and the paint spreads across the canvas. |
Selected Works Masako Yoshitake "Kigae"

The bud opens, and the scent soon disperses. |
Selected Works Hanako Yoshida "DEJA VU"

As an abstract painter, I use colors and forms to express human relationships, conversations, landscapes and other impressions from memory. |
Selected Works Shohei Yoshino "Turu 20170625_mix2-1"

I heard that the origin of the Chinese character for 'write' (書く, pronounced kaku) originates in the Chinese character for 'scratch' (掻く, also pronounced kaku). |
Selected Works Rikako "I'll never see her anyway"

A scene while traveling. |
Selected Works Le Mette Adeline "WELCOME INSIDE"

This work depicts a character of my own creation, portrayed drifting in the sky above a village in France. The created character is a projection of myself, and it expresses a journey to find my place of origin. I want to create works with unique expression that combine aspects of traditional painting acquired in Japan with the contrasting smoothness of animated images. |
Selected Works Haruka Watakabe "beyond the light."

At first, I wanted to draw a positive picture. (For me, the yellow object you see in the painting is a sweater). The painting is an indulgent work in which I entrust my actions to my feelings, flipping sides and flying away, deforming and freewheeling. Appraising an emotion by placing it in the room, it is a work that interacts with the space, moving to and fro. |