Miwa Kawai（Tanaka）

Miwa Kawai was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1960 and studied oil painting at Kyoto City University of Arts. She held her first solo exhibition, composed of works in which deep circles were drawn inside pieces of a lattice segmenting the picture, in 1983 at the Kobe Gallery of Contemporary Art. In around 1985, when she exhibited at “Yes Art”, her work shifted to pictures in which organic forms created a multi-layered space reminiscent of landscapes. This movement garnered attention with its swollen pieces, with Kawai exhibiting at “Art Now ’87”. Since then, she has been constantly releasing work in solo and group exhibitions. Her pictures slowly underwent a shift, and from 2000 onwards, even gaps between trees and images of mountain streams, which were easily recognizable as such, made an appearance. However, one thing that has not changed is the situation of breath from the artist’s body in the scenes and landscapes in the center of the work. 13 years ago, she made the switch from her maiden name to her real name, “Kawai”. In 2020, she exhibited at “Various Outlooks” (The Tokushima Modern Art Museum).