Born in 1969 in Shimane, Japan
Lives and works between Tokyo, Japan and Hong Kong, China
Site web de l'artiste

Born in 1969 in Shimane, Japan
Lives and works between Tokyo, Japan and Hong Kong, China
Site web de l'artiste
Des enfants aux visages troublants, des embryons aux membres pleinement développés ou les esprits d’ancêtres enfermés dans des corps aux formes imprécises : les créatures réunies par Izumi Kato sont aussi fascinantes qu’énigmatiques. Leurs silhouettes anonymes et leurs visages étranges, aux traits absents, sont avant tout de simples formes aux couleurs fortes. Leur représentation élémentaire, une tête ovale avec deux grands yeux d’une insondable profondeur, n’est pas sans rappeler les arts primitifs. Leurs expressions évoquent des totems et la croyance animiste qu’une force spirituelle coule dans le monde vivant comme dans le monde minéral. L’aura que dégagent ces personnages semble manifester le premier mouvement de vie, tandis que l’intensité de leur expression nous donne accès à une connaissance de l’homme fondée moins sur la raison que sur l’intuition. Incarnant une forme universelle, primitive de l’humanité, ces êtres magiques invitent le visiteur à s’identifier à eux, comme s’il se regardait dans un miroir.
Né en 1969 à Shimane au Japon, Izumi Kato obtient un diplôme du Département de Peinture à l’Huile de l’Université de Musashino en 1992. Il vit et travaille désormais à Tokyo. Depuis les années 2000, Kato suscite l’attention grâce à ses expositions au Japon et dans le monde. En 2007, il est invité à la 52e exposition internationale de la Biennale de Venise, dont le commissariat était assuré par Robert Storr.
education
1992
- Graduated from the Department of Oil Painting, Musashino Art University
solo shows
2023
- Perrotin, Paris, France
2022
- Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
- IZUMI KATO - Parasitic Plastic Plamodels, WATARI-UM, Tokyo, Japan
- Izumi Kato - From the Sea, Item Éditions, Paris, France
2021
- Stand by You, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, USA
- Perrotin, New York, USA
2020
- Perrotin, Paris, France
- IZUMI KATO – Ukiyoe Preview, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan
2019
- IZUMI KATO – LIKE A ROLLING SNOWBALL, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma / Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
- Perrotin, Shanghai, China
- Like A Rolling Stone, Item Éditions, Paris, France
- Fundación Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico
2018
- Perrotin, Seoul, South Korea
- Izumi Kato, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Perrotin, Hong Kong, China
2017
- Lithographs, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan
- New Prints and Drawings, Item Éditions, Paris, France
- Take Ninagawa, Tokyo, Japan
2016
- Galerie Perrotin, New York, USA
2014
- Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
- Soft Vinyl Sculptures, CAPSULE; SUNDAY, Tokyo, Japan
- Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong, China
2012
- SOUL UNION DELUXE, Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima, Japan
2011
- The View from After, COMME des GARÇONS Six, Osaka, Japan
- Paintings and Sculptures, ARATANIURANO / NADiff Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2010
- KATO Izumi − Journeying into Each Day, The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa, Japan
- SOUL UNION, ARATANIURANO, Tokyo, Japan
2008
- The Riverhead, The Ueno Royal Museum Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007
- Dear Humans, ARATANIURANO, Tokyo, Japan
- MOKU, Takahashi Collection, Tokyo, Japan
2006
- Murata & Friends, Berlin, Germany
2005
- HADAKA NO HITO, SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo, Japan
- Galleria Enrico Astuni, Pietrasanta, Italy
2004
- Murata & Friends, Berlin, Germany
- αM PROJECT Vol.5, art space kimura ASK?, Tokyo, Japan
2003
- ai gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Drawings 1996-2003, 23GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2002
- Galleria Chimera, Tokyo, Japan
2001
- ai gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Murata & Friends, Berlin, Germany
- Criterium 46 – Izumi Kato, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan
- Drawings 1995-99, 23GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2000
- 23GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
- ai gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1999
- SAMAZAMA NA ME 98 Izumi Kato, IBM-KAWASAKI City Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan
1998
- GALLERY LE DÉCO, Tokyo, Japan [also ’97, ’96]
1995
- ai gallery, Tokyo, Japan
group shows
2023
- Uraraka Painting Festival, Tokyo, Japan
- Ugly painting, Nahmad Contemporary, New York, USA
- The lens within your heart: from the TAKEUCHI COLLECTION, WHAT MUSEUM, Tokyo, Japan (upcoming)
2022
- Hawaiʻi Triennial, Honolulu, USA
- Assembly 1: Unstored, ASSEMBLY, Monticello, New York, USA
- Regarde-moi, Perrotin, Paris, France
- Un Été au Havre, Le Havre, France
- Reborn Art Festival 2021-22, Ishinomaki City, Oshika Peninsula, Miyagi, Japan
2021
- Art Karnival, K11 MUSEA, Hong Kong, China
- A Nexus of Rainbows: Works from the Hara Museum and the Hara Rokuro Collections, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma, Japan
- Space Mounting, Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design, Kyoto, Japan
- Collection Exhibition 1: Inner Cosmology, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
- Oketa Collection: 4G, Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan
- Next World – Taguchi Art Collection × Iwaki City Art Museum, Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima, Japan
- Just Looking, Still Looking, Always Looking, Aranya Art Center, Qinhuangdao, China
2020
- Garden of Life: Eight Contemporary Artists Venture into Nature, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
- On the Frontline of Contemporary Art: from the Taguchi Art Collection, Shimonoseki City Art Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
- Unconstrained Textiles: Stitching Methods, Crossing Ideas, Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT), Hong Kong, China
- SCAI 30th Anniversary Exhibition, SCAI PARK, Tokyo, Japan
- Exhibition from the Red Brick Art Museum Collection, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China
2019
- My Name is Tokyo Kai and I am an Artoholic, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
- Portraits: Selection from the Hara Museum Collection, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma, Japan
- CONTACT: Where the World Meets Japanese Art and Culture, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto, Japan
- NMAO collection with Alberto Giacometti II, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
- Thousand-Armed Guanyin, Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China
- Weavers of Worlds - A Century of Flux in Japanese Modern / Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2018
- Bubblewrap, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
- MOMAT Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- An Enchanting Future, Le Consulat, Paris, France
- Contemporary Sculpture Art Works from Xin Dong Cheng Collection, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China
- 10th Anniversary, Take Ninagawa, Tokyo, Japan
- Contemporary Art of the 21st Century – Taguchi Art Collection, The Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan
- My Favorites: Toshio Hara Selects from the Permanent Collection, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
- Takahashi Collection – Face and Abstraction, Kiyoharu Art Colony, Yamanashi, Japan
- Contemporary Wood-Caved Netsuke, The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam
- The Ubiquity of Borders: Japanese Contemporary, Gallery Baton, Seoul, South Korea
2017
- The Riddle of Art: Takahashi Collection, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan
- Japanorama. New vision on art since 1970, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
- THE ART SHOW – Art of the New Millennium in Taguchi Art Collection, The Museum of Modern Art Gunma, Gunma, Japan
- GLOBAL NEW ART – The Essence of Taguchi Art Collection, Woodone Museum of Art, Hiroshima, Japan
- ART VACANCES, Kagoshima Islands, Kagoshima, Japan
- TAKAHASHI COLLECTION – Mindfulness 2017, Yamagata Museum, Yamagata, Japan
- PLAY, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
- TAKAHASHI COLLECTION, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
- Spring Fever, Komagome SOKO, Tokyo, Japan
2016
- Living in Figures – Izumi Kato x Chen Fei, Nizayama Art Park Power Plant Museum, Toyama, Japan
- Traces of a Dream – Selections of the Hara Museum Collection, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma, Japan
- ART VACANCES – Izumi Kato, Paramodel, Mrs. Yuki, Gallery Hiramine, Kagoshima, Japan
- TAKAHASHI COLLECTION, Kanaz Forest of Creation, Fukui, Japan
- It’s Our Permanent Collection!, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
- THE COLLECTION OF THE TAKAMATSU ART MUSEUM EXHIBITION CELEBRATING THE MUSEUM’S REOPENING A CONCISE GUIDE TO LIFE WITH JAPANESE CONTEMPORARY ART, Takamatsu Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan
- S-HOUSE Museum Project, S-HOUSE Museum, Okayama, Japan
2015
- STANCE or DISTANCE ? − Connecting Myself to the World, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
- COSMOS/INTIME La Collection Takahashi, Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris, Paris, France
- Messages – Takahashi Collection, Towada Art Center, Aomori, Japan
- TAKAHASHI COLLECTION: Mirror Neuron, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Taguchi Art Collection − A Walk around the Contemporary Art World after Paradigm Shift, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Gifu, Japan
2014
- Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo 2014, Red Bull Music Academy, Tokyo, Japan
- Rokko Meets Art 2014, Mount Rokko National Park, Hyogo, Japan
- Twentieth Anniversary Special MOT Collection: Contacts, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Taguchi Art Collection: TAG−TEN, Matsumoto City Museum Of Art, Nagano, Japan
- Mindfulness! – TAKAHASHI COLLECTION 2014, Nagoya City Art Museum, Aichi, Japan
2013
- Traveling Art in Mimasaka Province, Shurakuen Garden, Okayama, Japan
- Visceral Sensation – Voices So Far, So Near, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
- Wonderful My Art – Artists of the Takahashi Collection, Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamanashi, Japan
- Re:Quest – Japanese Contemporary Art since the 1970s, Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
- MISUGOSHITEKITAMONO, sendai mediatheque, Miyagi, Japan
2012
- Parallel Far East Worlds, A4 Contemporary Arts Center, Chengdu, China
- Rokko Meets Art 2012, Mount Rokko National Park, Hyogo, Japan
- The 35th Anniversary of the National Museum of Art, Osaka: the Allure of the Collection, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
- Double Vision: Contemporary Art from Japan, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia; Haifa Museum of Art, Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel
2011
- Pathos and Small Narratives − Japanese Contemporary Art, Gana Art Center, Seoul, South Korea
- JALAPAGOS, MITSUBISHI ESTATE ARTIUM, Fukuoka, Japan
- MOT Collection Silent narrator: on plural stories, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Taguchi Art Collection − Global New Art, Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
- The Most Requested Top 30 / 10 Years of Takahashi Collection, Takahashi Collection Hinode; TABLOID GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
- Be Alive! – Selections from the Hara Museum Collection, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
- Art in an Office, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
2010
- Living With Art – Contemporary Art From Japan and Taiwan, Yi&C Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan, China
- New Kore Shizuoka – New and Previous Collections and Art Closely Connected to Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan
- Fifth Anniversary Exhibition: Garden of Painting – Japanese Art of the 00s, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
2009
- Parabiosis-Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Soka Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan / Beijing, China / Tainan, Taiwan
- Being Seeing Feeling – Selections from the Hara Museum Collection, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma, Japan
- Dorodoro, Doron – The Uncanny World in Folk and Contemporary Art in Asia, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
- Long Season, Michael Ku Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, China
- TOYOTA ART COLLECTION 2008, Kuragaike Art Salon, Toyota Kuragaike Commemorative Hall, Aichi, Japan
2008
- Forwards 08 – Daimler Awards for Contemporary Art in Germany, Japan, South Africa and USA, Daimler Contemporary Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Kankai Pavilion Opening Exhibition – Beyond Time, Beyond Space, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma, Japan
- neoteny japan – From TAKAHASHI Collection, Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima; Sapporo Art Museum, Hokkaido; The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo; The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Niigata; Akita Museum of Modern Art, Akita; Yonago City Museum of Art, Tottori; The Museum of Art, Ehime, Ehime, Japan [–’10]
- Art Scope 2007/2008 – Faces of Existence, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
- Selections from the Hara Museum’s Permanent Collection, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2007
- Venice Biennale 52nd International Art Exhibition Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense curated by Robert Storr, Italian Pavilion at Giardini, Venice, Italy
- Painting as Forest: Artist as Thinker, Okazaki Mindscape Museum, Aichi, Japan
- MOT Annual 2007 – From a World as Large as Life, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2006
- The Child, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
2005
- GLOBAL PLAYERS – Deutsche und japanische Kunst der Gegenwart, BankART1929, Yokohama, Japan; Ludwig Forum Aachen, Aachen, Germany [’06]
- Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture, Japan Society, New York, USA
- Izumi KATO, Junya SATO, Yuken TERUYA, 14-1 Galerie, Stuttgart, Germany
2004
- Galleria Enrico Astuni, Pietrasanta, Italy
- lonely planet, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan
- Body, Galerie Robert Drees, Hannover, Germany
2003
- ZONE – Clairvoyants in this threatening age, Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
- The 1st Magical Art Exhibition ‘Magic Room’, PROJECT ROOM, Tokyo, Japan
2002
- Pro Tsubo, Theodor-Zink-Museum, Kaiserslautern, Germany; Neue Galerie Landshut, Germany [’04]
- VOCA The Vision of Contemporary Art 2002, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2000
- Four Emerging Artists, Theatres des SENS, Tokyo, Japan
1997
- ‘Bi’ and ‘Jutsu’, Ai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
public collections
- Aranya Art Center, Qinhuangdao, China
- Bernard Buffet Museum, Shizuoka, Japan
- Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT), Hong Kong, China
- Colección SOLO, Madrid, Spain
- Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
- Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
- Japigozzi Collection, Geneva, Switzerland
- K11, Hong Kong, China
- Long Museum, Shanghai, China
- Longlati Foundation, Hong Kong, China
- Miniature Museum, Den Haag, the Netherlands
- Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan
- The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
- The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Okazaki Mindscape Museum, Aichi, Japan
- Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China
- S-HOUSE Museum, Okayama, Japan
- SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, USA
- Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan
- Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China
- Taguchi Art Collection, Tokyo, Japan
- Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, Tokyo, Japan
- Takamatsu Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan
- Toyota Motor Corporation, Aichi, Japan
- Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
- 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
- Zhiguan Museum of Fine Art, Beijing, China
Publications
2022
- IZUMI KATO - Parasitic Plastic Models, Potziland Records, Tokyo, Japan
2020
- IZUMI KATO, Perrotin, Paris, France
- IZUMI KATO - MEXICAN WORKS IN CASA WABI, Potziland Records, Tokyo, Japan
2019
- Izumi Kato - LIKE A ROLLING SNOWBALL, Seigensha Art Publishing, Inc., Kyoto, Japan
- IZUMI KATO – DRAWINGS & PAPER WORKS, Potziland Records, Tokyo, Japan
2016
- Living in Figures - Izumi Kato x Chen Fei, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong, China
2014
- Izumi Kato: Soft Vinyl Sculptures, Izumi Kato Studio, Tokyo, Japan
2012
- IZUMI KATO EXHIBITION−SOUL UNION DELUXE, Izumi Kato Exhibition Committee, Tokyo, Japan
2011
- Izumi Kato: Paintings and Sculptures, Seigensha Art Publishing, Inc., Kyoto, Japan
- Izumi Kato − Soft Vinyl Sculptures, Izumi Kato / Linden, Tokyo, Japan
2010
- KATO Izumi − Journeying into Each Day, The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa, Japan
2005
- Izumi Kato, Edizioni Galleria Astuni, Pietrasanta, Italy
2023
Izumi KATO
2 juin 2023 - 29 juillet 2023
paris
76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS
10 IMPASSE SAINT CLAUDE 75003 PARIS
2022
Daniel ARSHAM, Sophie CALLE, Jiang CHENG, Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Jens FÄNGE, CHEN Fei, GELITIN, Laurent GRASSO, Charles HASCOËT, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, JR, Izumi KATO, CHEN Ke, Klara KRISTALOVA, Trevon LATIN, ROMEO MIVEKANNIN, Danielle ORCHARD, zéh PALITO, Christiane POOLEY, Claude RUTAULT, SONG Kun, Kathia ST. HILAIRE, Xavier VEILHAN
9 juin 2022 - 30 juillet 2022
paris
76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS
10 IMPASSE SAINT CLAUDE 75003 PARIS
Regarde-moi
Johan CRETEN, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Jens FÄNGE, Bernard FRIZE, Laurent GRASSO, Gregor HILDEBRANDT, Izumi KATO, Klara KRISTALOVA, ob, Otani Workshop, Paola PIVI, Gabriel RICO, Aya TAKANO
9 février 2022 - 19 mars 2022
tokyo
Piramide Building, 1F, 6-6-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku
Head in the Clouds
2021
Izumi KATO
4 mars 2021 - 17 avril 2021
new york
130 Orchard Street
2020
Izumi KATO
29 août 2020 - 10 octobre 2020
paris
76 RUE DE TURENNE 75003 PARIS
Hernan BAS, CHEN Fei, Jean-Philippe DELHOMME, Izumi KATO, MADSAKI, Eddie MARTINEZ, Barry MCGEE, Mr., Takashi MURAKAMI, Aya TAKANO
20 juin 2020 - 8 août 2020
hong kong
807, K11 ATELIER Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Kaleidoscopes: Contemporary Portraiture
2019
Hernan BAS, Izumi KATO, Klara KRISTALOVA, Eddie MARTINEZ, Mr., Matthew RONAY, TOILET PAPER: Collaboration Maurizio Cattelan / Pierpaolo Ferrari
24 septembre 2019 - 26 octobre 2019
Séoul
1F 5 Palpan-gil, Jongno-gu
Izumi KATO
5 juin 2019 - 17 août 2019
Shanghai
3/F, 27 Hu Qiu Road, Huangpu District
2018
Izumi KATO
5 octobre 2018 - 18 novembre 2018
Séoul
1F 5 Palpan-gil, Jongno-gu
Izumi KATO
19 janvier 2018 - 6 mars 2018
hong kong
50 CONNAUGHT ROAD CENTRAL, 17TH FLOOR - HONG KONG
2016
Izumi KATO
7 janvier 2016 - 27 février 2016
new york
909 Madison Avenue New York
2014
Izumi KATO
12 juin 2014 - 26 juillet 2014
paris
10 IMPASSE SAINT CLAUDE 75003 PARIS
Izumi KATO
8 janvier 2014 - 15 mars 2014
hong kong
50 CONNAUGHT ROAD CENTRAL, 17TH FLOOR - HONG KONG