Morigami Jin 森上 仁 (b. 1955)
Born in Beppu City, Ōita prefecture, Morigami is from a family of long-established bamboo artisans and he studied at the Ōita Beppu Industrial Crafts Laboratory. As a young artist, his work was selected for the Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) in 1988 and 1989, and more recently again in 2005. His work has also been selected for the Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition. He has, in addition, received acclaim abroad. In 2004, he was a finalist in the Cotsen Bamboo Awards. His works featured in the New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters exhibition at the Japan Society, New York in 2008 and the Fendre l’Air, L’art du bamboo au Japan, at the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris in 2018. Some of his more recognizable bamboo sculptures are of anthropomorphic three-dimensional shapes made of openwork hexagons each formed from six bamboo strips (mutsume-ami). His works are in the collections of institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Denver Art Museum, Denver; the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris; Beppu City Traditional Crafts Centre, Beppu; Ōita Prefectural Art Museum, Ōita.
Biography
1955 Born in Beppu, Oita
1975 Entered the Beppu Vocational Arts Training Center as a trainee
2000 Certified as a Traditional Craftsman by The Association for the Promotion
of Traditional Craft Industries
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
1985 Solo Exhibition, Gifu Takashimaya
1988-1989 Selected by Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) two years in a row
2001 Bamboo Fantasies, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe
2002 The Next Generation, University of Arkansas, Little Rock
2005-2008 Selected at the 44th to 47th Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition four years in a row
2005 Selected at the 37th Nitten
2006 Exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
2007 The Next Generation, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
2008 New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters, Japan Society, New York
2009 Many Shapes of Bamboo III, Oita Prefectural Art Museum
2010 Many Shapes of Bamboo IV, Oita Prefectural Art Museum
2011 Many Shapes of Bamboo V, Oita Prefectural Art Museum
Beauty in All Things: Japanese Art and Design, Museum of Art & Design, New York
2013 Birds in the Art of Japan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
2018 Solo exhibition, TAI Modern, Santa Fe
2018-2019 Fendre L'air: Art du bambou au Japon, Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac, Paris
2020 Masterpieces of Bamboo Art: Katsushiro Soho and Fujinuma Noboru, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya
Selected Prizes
1979 Oita Prefecture Assembly Chairman’s Award, Oita Prefecture Industrial Crafts Exhibition
1982-1983 Kyushu Trade and Industry Bureau Director Prize, 19th and 20th Beppu City New Bamboo Work Exhibition two years in a row
1983 Director Prize, Oita Prefecture Industrial Design Exhibition
1985 Art-crafts department prize, 28th Beppu City Art Exhibition
1994 Kyoto Craft Art Award, Kyoto Craft Biennale
2003 Bamboo Crafts in Daily life Exhibition Prize, Beppu
2004 Associate Grand Prix, Cotsen Bamboo Awards
Public and Institutional Collections
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Beppu City Traditional Bamboo Crafts Center, Beppu
Denver Art Museum, Colorado
Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, Bloomington
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte
Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris
Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Oita