Nobuko Watanabe (1948-) is an artist based in Osaka and Germany. She started her artist career as a musician. Encountering the members of Gutai Art Association led her to create artworks. Shaping fabrics over a strecther with a gun tacker, she has been creating and exhibiting sculptural forms since 1997 both in Japan and Germany, and in the recent 10 years we may witness her comprehensice works coming to maturity. By stretching the fabric intensely, the frame is shaped into squares and triangles, creating valleys and cruves which cast shadows. Adjoining several fabrics painted with stripes of blue and green, she creates a unique composition. The structures are simple, however, the contrasting colors of the fabrics and the compositions bring tension into the space and let us explore forms and textures.
---------------------Works
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TitleGreen and Olivegreen and WhiteSize140×120×10cmYear2008Mediumwood, cloth -
TitleWine red and Red and White-stripesSize40×13×7 cmYear2017Mediumpaint on stainless -
TitleLight blue and WhiteSize42.5×20×20 cmYear2019Mediumpaint on stainless -
TitleLight green and WhiteSize42.5×20×20 cmYear2020Mediumpaint on stainless
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TitleGreen and Olivegreen and WhiteSize140×120×10cmYear2008Mediumwood, cloth
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TitleWine red and Red and White-stripesSize40×13×7 cmYear2017Mediumpaint on stainless
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TitleLight blue and WhiteSize42.5×20×20 cmYear2019Mediumpaint on stainless
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TitleLight green and WhiteSize42.5×20×20 cmYear2020Mediumpaint on stainless
CV
1948
Born in Tokyo
1971
Graduated from Soai Women's University with BA in piano performance
1994
The 47 th Ashiya City Exhibition and awarded the prize of Ashiya City Museum of art and history
1997
Awarded the Wxcellent Prize, ABC Art Competition
1999
Won the grand prix for the 10 th Yoshihara Jiro Prize Competition
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1998
'Nobuko Watanabe (with Elke Sander)' Japan Cultural Institute in Koln, Germany
1999
Shinanobashi Gallery 5, Osaka
1999
'Beyond the Border' Gallery KURANUKI, Osaka
1999
Gallery Kiki Meyer-Hahn, Dusseldorf, Germany
1999
'Cloth Shape-Spur of Tension' INAX Gallery 2, Tokyo
2001
'Cloth Shape' Otani Memorial Art Museum, Hyogo
2002
'Beyond the surface' Nomart Editions, Inc, Project Space, Osaka
2002
'Cloth Colour-Green and Green-stripes, INAX Gallery, Tokyo
2003
Keumsan Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2003
Gallery Kiki Meyer-Hahn, Dusseldorf, Germany
2003
'Talking to Spaace' ARTCOURT Gallery, Osaka
2004
Keumsan Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2005
'Mysterious Stripes' Shinanobashi Gallery 5, Osaka
2007
Gallery Kiki Meyer-Hahn, Dusseldorf, Germany
2007
'A Space into the color' Shinanobashi Gallery 5, Osaka
2008
Galerie Baudoin Lebon Pari, Paris, France
2011
'FROM SPACE TO SPACE' Gallery Kiki Meyer-Hahn, Dusseldorf, Germany
2014
’Sculpture by Keiji Uematsu and Nobuko Watanabe at Iru. 2014' Parc & Maison du Moussel, Andresy, France
2017
'Iro to Kukan wo Koeru, Sono Mukougawa' Arario Gallery, Korea
2019
'Iro to Kukan wo Koeru, Sono Mukougawa' Gallery Kiki Meyer-Hahn, Dusseldorf, Germany
2021
'Nobuko Watanabe Shikisai to Kukan no Mukou no Mukou' Gallery Shimada (Hyogo)
2024
'White and Black' Kyoto TSUTAYA BOOKS（Kyoto）
Selected Group Exhibitions
2003
'Ito to Nuno' The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Gunma
2003
'Constructed fablic' Kobe Fashion Museum, Hyogo
2005
'Gold Rush, Takuma+1+1' Keumsan Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2005
KIFA, Seoul, South Korea
2006
'Irodori no heya'
2006
' Otani Memorial Museum of Art, Nishinomiya, Hyogo
2006
'History and art in Ashiya' Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, Hyogo
2007
Japan Contemporary Arts Festival, Heiri, South Korea
2007
'24hours 7days a week' Arteversum, Dusseldorf, Germany
2008
'From South' Meyerhof project, Dusseldorf, Germany
2012
'The Link Between Words and Art: An Homage to Nakahara Yusuke' Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Hyogo
2012
'Artistic interactions: avant-garde Kansai' Otani Memorial Museum of Art, Nishinomiya, Hyogo
2013
Special feature: This wonderful world of sculpture, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka
2020
'ASHIYA TIME: A LARGE COLLECTION EXHIBITION' Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, Hyogo
2020
'Expanding Art History' Otani Memorial Museum of Art, Nishinomiya City, Nishinomiya, Japan
2020
Collection Exhibition II Special Feature Contemporary Art Selection' Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka
2020
'Overlapping Circles 5 Artists Collaborate with the Collection' Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art
2022
'Collecting and Repairing: Focusing on new collections while our museum was closed’ Shiga Museum of Art, Shiga
2022
’Dialogue: The Power of Form’ Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art, Izumi, Japan
2024
'Relief to Three Dimensional' Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Hyogo
