Chicago’s Floating World Gallery presents its first solo exhibition by a female Japanese artist “Brush as Blade: Abstract works by Toko Shinoda”

Chicago, IL — Floating World Gallery (FWG) presents “Brush As Blade: Abstract Works by Toko Shinoda” at the gallery’s Lincoln Park location, 1925 N. Halsted St. Friday, Feb. 4 through Friday, April 1, 2011. This is the first solo exhibition FWG has ever mounted focusing on a female Japanese artist.

“Bill and I have been collectors and ardent fans of Shinoda’s work for some time,” says gallery co-owner Roberta Stein. “We were extremely pleased when we realized that the exhibition would dovetail with National Women’s Month (March), International Women’s Day (March 8) and Shinoda’s 98th birthday. We sincerely hope this exhibition will help increase the public awareness of the work of this remarkable woman and incredible artist. “

Shinoda is one of the foremost calligraphers in Japan, and is known around the world as a master of the intricate manner of writing tracing back 3000 years. She was born in Manchuria on March 28, 1913 and moved to Tokyo with her family in 1914. At age 8, she began to study traditional calligraphy under the tutelage of her father and at primary school. She began to teach the art in 1935. Her first one-woman exhibition was at Tokyo’s Kyukyodo Gallery in 1940 and, in 1957, she had an exhibition “Japanese Abstract Calligraphy” at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Shinoda began creating abstract work in 1947. A two-year stay in New York in the 1950s introduced her to the work of abstract expressionists and inspired her to go beyond the traditional boundaries of controlled calligraphy and use expansive, dynamic brush strokes.

Shinoda began producing lithographs in 1960 and, in 1961, was invited to exhibit work at the 6th São Paulo Biennial. Between 1966 and 1977 she participated in the First Japan Art Festival, which toured New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, and other U.S. cities (1966-1967); designed murals for the Japanese Pavilion at Montreal Expo and the Zojoji Temple, Tokyo; and had solo exhibitions in Berlin, New York, Tokyo and Washington DC, where she was commissioned to do a major painting for the Japanese Ambassador’s residence.

A multi-faceted artist, Shinoda received the Japanese Essayist Club Prize for her collection of writings “Sumi-iro” in 1979. She was the focus of a feature in Time Magazine Aug. 1, 1983 and, in 1996, became the first Japanese artist to have the honor of having a retrospective of her paintings and lithographs in the Singapore Art Museum.

Today, Shinoda’s works reside in numerous permanent collections worldwide including the Rockefeller, Guggenheim , the Brooklyn Museum, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Yale University Art Gallery and the Tokyo National Museum of Art. Her work has been exhibited at MOMA and other museums and galleries in New York, Boston, Paris, Washington and Brussels. Recent exhibitions include” Die Hande der Kunst” at MARTa Herford, Germany (2008) and “Sensei” at Residenzgalerie, Salzburg, Austria (2009).

The opening preview of “Brush As Blade: Abstract Works by Toko Shinoda” is Friday, Feb. 4 from 6 to 9 p.m. It includes a Q&A with FWG Director of Exhibitions Elias Martin. Light refreshments will be served. No reservations are required. For more information call 312-587-7800.

Floating World Gallery, located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, takes its name from the English translation of “ukiyo-e”, referring to images of an evanescent, impermanent world of fleeting beauty. The gallery has been one of the world’s leading dealers in Japanese art for more than 20 years, offering private collectors and institutions the highest quality works of art.

Floating World Gallery opened its new 8,200 square-foot gallery space in October 2009 and is now actively engaged in helping to educate the public and increase awareness of the rich world of modern Japanese art. Recent, critically acclaimed exhibitions have included “Creating What Has Never Been,” an exhibition of Japanese post-war paintings and contemporary ceramics (Sept. 24 -Nov. 19, 2010); and “Behind Paper Walls: Self-Printed Masterworks by Jun’ichiro Sekino” (Dec. 3, 2010 – Jan. 28, 2011).

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 312-587-7800, fax 312-575-3565 or email artwork@floatingworld.com.

Floating World Gallery’S Free Seminar Series Continues with“Breaking Light: Female Artists Working in Modern Japan” Saturday, March 5,2011
In Anticipation of International Women’s Day, Seminar Examines Issues of Identity, Race and Sexism as They Influenced the Work of Acclaimed Artist Toko Shinoda and Her Contemporaries
 

Floating World Gallery (FWG) continues their free seminar series with “Breaking Light: Female Artists Working in Modern Japan” at 1925 N. Halsted Street, Saturday, March 5 from 1 to 3 p.m. In anticipation of International Women’s Day (March 8), the seminar will examine issues of identity, race, sexism as well as the significant artistic contributions women have made to modern Japanese art, including woodblock prints.
 
Artists addressed will include Fujio Yoshida and Keiko Minami, contemporaries of Toko Shinoda whose work is showcased in FWG’s Winter 2011 exhibition “Brush As Blade: Abstract Works by Toko touch on”opening Friday, Feb. 4 and continuing through April 1.
 
The seminar, conducted by the gallery’s Director of Exhibitions Elias Martin, will also touch on history, production techniques, connoisseurship and collecting strategies and provide participants the rare opportunity to examine original works that are often only seen in books or behind museum glass.
  
Admission to the seminar is complimentary, however reservations are required. For reservations or more information, email classes@floatingworld.comor call 312-587-7800.
 
Floating World Gallery, located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, takes its name from the English translation of “ukiyo-e”, referring to images of an evanescent, impermanent world of fleeting beauty. The gallery has been one of the world’s leading dealers in Japanese art for more than 20 years, offering private collectors and institutions the highest quality works of art.
 
Floating World Gallery opened its new 8,200 square-foot gallery space in October 2009 and is now actively engaged in helping to educate the public and increase awareness of the rich world of modern Japanese art. Recent, critically acclaimed exhibitions have included “Creating What Has Never Been,” an exhibition of Japanese post-war paintings and contemporary ceramics (Sept. 24 -Nov. 19, 2010); and “Behind Paper Walls: Self-Printed Masterworks by Jun’ichiro Sekino”(Dec. 3, 2010 – Jan. 28, 2011).
 
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 312-587-7800, fax 312-575-3565 or email artwork@floatingworld.com.