Sweet and feminine at first glance, Chiho Aoishima’s works reveal a darker ambience upon closer viewing, emanating an alluring ambiguity. The artist’s world is built on the natural world, featuring otherworldly figures and dreamscapes, filled with child-lilke spirits and anthropomorphic flora and fauna. A self-taught artist and an early member of the Japanese art collective Kaikai Kiki, Chiho Aoishima’s practice embodies a multitude of dualities in theme: playful yet melancholic, nature vs technology, utopia and dystopia. Exploring ideas of death and rebirth, Aoishima’s works are deeply rooted in Japanese religion and folklore, whilst also re-imagining art historical traditions in a contemporary context.
Beginning initially as an illustrator, Chiho Aoshima started her practice in the 1990s, rising to prominence with her debut in the acclaimed Superflat exhibition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2001. Her works are in the public collections of the Seattle Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, amongst others. The artist is represented by Perrotin and Kaikai Kiki Gallery.