Miwa Komatsu

Born in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, in 1984, Miwa Komatsu graduated from Joshibi Junior College of Art and Design in 2004 and received its outstanding work award the following year. Her copperplate etching Forty-Nine Days, made that year, won acclaim for its technique and distinctive approach, launching her artistic career. Her early work featured delicate black-and-white lines, often addressing life and death with a darker mood. After a visit to New York, she resolved to create unique paintings and destroyed the original copperplate of Forty-Nine Days, forcing herself to move forward rather than dwell on past success. She held a solo exhibition at the Kitano Museum of Art in 2012 and was selected among the world's top 39 artists for the PRIX CANSON 2013 award. Reconsidering the relationship between divinities and people, she shifted from life and death toward prayer, depicting the warm energy of guardian creatures in vivid colors. In 2014, she held a solo exhibition at the Ueda City Museum of Art and dedicated a work to Izumo Taisha. Her painted Arita-ware guardian dogs, Guardians of Heaven and Earth, were shown at the Chelsea Flower Show in London in 2015, where they received a gold award, and entered the British Museum collection, making her the youngest living artist represented there. The following year, her work was exhibited at New York's World Trade Center. Her 2017 solo exhibition at Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho attracted 30,000 visitors.