Aoki Noe – Biography

1958　Born in Tokyo
1981　Graduated from the Department of Sculpture, College of Art and Design, Musashino Art University
1983　Completed Master's Program in Sculpture, Graduate School of Art and Design, Musashino Art University
Awards (selected)
2000　Received the 50th New Artist Award from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (FY1999)
2003　Received the Excellence Award at the 33rd Teijiro Nakahara Prize
2014　Received the 55th Mainichi Art Award
Held numerous solo and group exhibitions.

Major Public Collections
Utsunomiya Museum of Art, Oita City Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Kirishima Open-Air Museum (Kagoshima), Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Nakahara Teijiro Memorial Sculpture Museum of Asahikawa, Nagoya City Art Museum, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo, Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, Ashikaga Museum of Art, Pola Museum of Art, Ohara Museum of Art

Aoki is known as a sculptor who creates works using thick iron plates, cutting them into rod- or ring-like shapes with a welding torch. In addition to sculpture, he actively engages in two-dimensional works such as printmaking, drawing, and collage.
Rather than creating masses that represent absolute or eternal existence, his works generate new relationships within air, light, and space. They serve as devices or systems for resonance—evoking a spiritual world created through an exchange between people and nature.
On his printmaking practice, he comments: “...Prints involve human hands, so they require a certain level of refinement, don’t they? ...But compared to professional printmakers, my prints are completely lacking in that refinement... I feel that if you pursue refinement too much, you lose something important... I’d rather express something vague, something undefined. Ideally, my prints should convey that sense of chaos.”
*1) Source: “Gallery 2007 Vol.7” (Gallery Station Co., Ltd.), p.21