MINAMI YOSHIDA
Minami Yoshida is a Japanese female artist with a unique style inspired by the culture of Japan’s ancient Jomon Period, as well as the popular culture of contemporary Japan. Her sculptures, reminiscent of clay figures from the Jomon Period, are characterized by their charming yet simple forms. Yoshida’s figures have a quiet and solitary feel about them, but one will be able to sense their inner beauty and spiritual quality in due course.
As a child, Yoshida was often ill and immersed in introspection. She was a reserved girl who spent most of her time alone, drawing pictures and making crafts. Mascots and anime characters were a familiar presence to Yoshida, who was born in 1993. She would collect and display them in her room and spend time with them because they gave her special comfort. These mascots, the product of popular culture, may have been the first art form that shaped her aesthetic value while she was growing up in northern Japan. Her lonely childhood, and the characters that would lift her spirits, continue to inspire her works to this day.
Later, Yoshida was strongly influenced by clay figures from the Jomon Period. The Jomon people’s sense of beauty, reflected in shapes attuned to nature, stirred a deep sense of awe and empathy in the contemporary artist as a symbol of the mystery of life. Yoshida said, “I studied for an art university entrance exam, which is unique to Japan, and left my hometown to study sculpture in Tokyo. What the Jomon people created reminded me of what I had forgotten. When I saw an object that was created tens of thousands of years ago, I was reminded of the clay that I touched as a child. I recalled the sense of freedom and the joy of living that I had back then, and the need to shape the clay with my own hands. I, too, wanted to leave behind a universal shape and the strength of life.” For Yoshida, who was born and raised in Hokkaido and has roots in the Tohoku region, such a reminder serves an important purpose as she engages in her creative activities. Take, for example, Kimono Girl, a recent work. The kimono and body parts are integrated and the back skeleton is lightly built. This work may have a simple appearance, but one can still feel the power and presence that transcend human form, as well as the innocence and benevolence of a Jomon clay doll.
Yoshida has been depicting a unique picture of the world at the intersection of Japan’s contemporary popular and ancient cultures by combing them with her own life experience. Yoshida transports her audience across time and space, captivating a diverse range of people in the process. In fact, her hands are on the clay even today, as they always are, creating rustic beauty.
Selected Group Exhibition
2022 "Stuben" Roll gallery/Tokyo,Japan
2021 "Roots & Arts Shiraoi”/Shiraoi,Japan
2021 “No,63 Rokusaikai" Ogawara Syu Musun of Art/Kutchan,Japan
2019 "Art Collective Hokkaido "/Kiroro,Japan
2018 "Haruurara" To ov cafe gallery/Sapporo,Japan
2016 “Joint Graduation Exhibition of 5 Art Universities in Tokyo
“The National Art Center Tokyo/Tokyo,Japan
"PARTY" Yubikobo/Okayama,Japan
"+ -" Azabujuban gallery /Tokyo,Japan
"EXIST vol.13" JINENN gallery/Tokyo,Japan
2009 "GEISAI#13" Kaikaikiki Factory/Saitama,Japan
Solo Exhibition
2022 “Exhibition commemorating the award of the Hokkaido bank Cultureand Arts Promotion Award
Minami Yoshida solo show”/Sapporo,Japan
“Used be Children 2" To ov cafe gallery/Sapporo.Japan
2021 “Person on the Ground" NIIWA gallery/Sapporo Japan
2019 "FACE" To ov cafe gallery/Sapporo,Japan
2012 “Noisy Creation of Imagination" gallery Inukai/Sapporo,Japan
2010 “More than Person" KAN YASUDA SCULPTURE MUSEUM ARTE PIAZZA BIBAI,/Bibai,Japan
“Used be Children" To ov cafe gallery/Sapporo,Japan
2009 “Twinkling Puberty" T&Fhanaagra/ Sapporo,Japan
Minami Yoshida (b. 1993) is a Japanese artist focused on sculpture and the human form. Born in Sapporo, Japan, she grew up with a penchant for art and a talent for creativity. As a child she loved creating art both in school and in her free time, and became more and more focused on her artistry as her focus of study. In 2009, at age 16, she had her first solo exhibition in Sapporo, and she has since shown her artwork all over Japan. In 2012 she began her undergraduate study at Tokyo Zokei University, graduating in 2016 with a degree in fine art with a focus on sculpture. She lives and works now in Niseko Hokkaido, Japan.