NORMAL

- Asae Soya -
(Tokyo Japan)

Born in Kanagawa, Japan
Lives and works in Kanagawa

Education

1994-1998
Tokyo National Fine Arts &
Music Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1998
1998-2000
Tokyo National University of
Fine Arts & Music, Graduate division.
Master of Fine Arts, 2000
2001
Tokyo National University of
Fine Arts & Music, Doctoral student

Solo Exhibition

1999
"Bathroom" Azabu Art Gallery,
Tokyo "Bathroom"
Dowakasai Gallery, Tokyo
2000
"Bathroom"
Azabu Art Gallery, Tokyo
2001
"Asae Soya: Paintings" Live, Tokyo
2002
"Asae Soya: Public Painting"
Fuchu Museum, Tokyo

Group Exhibition

1998
"Expression for the Next Generation"
Obuse Museum, Nagano
1999
"Japan/Korea Art Exchange"
Japan/Korea
2000
"ARTBOX Exhibition"
ARTBOX Gallery, Tokyo
"JACA-Japan Visual Art Exhibition"
International Exchange Fund Forum,
Tokyo "Art Public Competition 2001"
Soko Gallery, Tokyo
"APEC YOUNG ARTIST EXHIBITION 2000"
Purina "ART DEL JAPAN," Puertorico
2001
"Showa Shell Oil-
Contemporary Art Exhibition"
Meguro-Ku Museum, Tokyo
"Artist of 21st Century"
Nihonnbashi Mitsukoshi
Department store, Tokyo
"Kanji Maeda Exhibition"
Nihonnbashi Takashimaya
Department store, Tokyo
2002
"VOCA-Exhibition"
Ueno Forest Museum, Tokyo
"Philip Morris Art Award
2002-The First Move"
Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo
"NORMAL Travel Show"
SPICA Museum, Tokyo
Studio J, Osaka
Izutsuya, Hiroshima
Co-operative Studio Warehouse No.3,
Fukuoka
"Fuchu Biannual" Fuchu Museum, Tokyo

Prize

1998
Salon de Pulantine Prize
Toride Mayer Prize O Prize
Hollobein Schalarschip
1999
ARTBOX Gallery Prize Nissin
Contemporaly Art Award, First Prize
2000
JACA Japan Visual Art,
Second Prize ART Public 2001,
Selected Artist APEC
YOUNG ARTIST EXHIBITION 2000,
Selected Artist
2001
Showa Shell Oil Co. First Prize
2001
VOCA Exhibition, VOCA Prize

Everyone has something that they like without having a particular reason. For example, someone might like the rubbery smell of new shoes or another might like a food with a soft and smooth texture. I believe that these kinds of unexplainable desires exist for everyone. How do these strange desires formed? Sometimes, a very ordinary person surprises me with his/her strangest desire for very strange things. Although I am not an expert, I believe that these desires might have to do with a person's past experience, which associates these strange things with a certain feeling, or it might have to do with a more physiological necessity, which can not be detected by a routine physical check up. I also have this strange desire. I love the texture of a bathtub frame. I enjoy the physical sensation, which is associated with a bathroom. The temperature of room rises as the bathtub is filled with hot water. Steamy water drops slowly covering the skin. Blood circulation gets better and the heartbeat can be heard. The body is getting warmer. Different textures of water and the bathtub, randomness of light reflecting on water surfaces, a sensation of rebirth as I get out of water. All of these things makes me think of the conversation with my five senses, which includes both sensual information and physical changes. In my new painting series Bathroom, I try to capture these sensations, which are informed by the experience of taking a bath.

Asae Soya