Mayuko Okada

 

Mayuko Okada

I started to be attracted to kimonos from a young age, influenced by my grandmother, who was a shopping queen as well as a kimono lover. I majored in Japanese painting at university with a dream of kimono related art.

I got office work first after graduating however my creating passion did not disappear. Seven years later, I officially started my carrier as an artist when my painting "Spring Makeup(春化粧)" won a prize at the Tokyo Wonder Wall Competition. I took charge of the production of "46 ceiling paintings" for a Buddhist temple in Tokyo over the course of three years.

I also began to create new pieces in an original style inspired by traditional Japanese kimono craft techniques OSHI-E(押し絵) at this time. I came across many vintage kimonos that were too damaged to be worn, but too beautiful to be thrown away through my pursuit of art.

In 2010, I moved to New York with the hope to once again bring those kimonos back to life and to show to the world. I engaged in a wide range of art projects in New York including a solo exhibition of 100 KOI carp installations made from kimono silk, making costumes for stage performers, and decorating restaurants. 

I moved to Bern, Switzerland in 2015. A solo exhibition at Château Gutsch was held, a presentation of a piece called “HOPE” at the Japanese Embassy in Switzerland (JICC), as well as a few other exposures in Singapore and Tokyo. My artist carrier is expanding internationally.

I enjoy seeing people taken aback by the beauty of kimonos in my art. Sometimes they are so moved that they can not resist touching it, which truly brings me joy.

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Mayuko Okada was born in Kyoto, Japan. She creates works from antique kimonos, weaving patterned narratives that are reminiscent of ukiyo-e scenographies. Her works are deeply unique for their defiance of medium-specificity, spurning textual narratives and dimensional sculptures alike. Mayuko takes that which we would have traditionally regarded as purposive, the textile purposed for making garb that would be decorously worn, and turns into something purposively purposiveless: fine art.

PAST EVENTS

Mayuko Okada. Kimono reborn 

30 May — 20 Jun 2023

ARTWORKS

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