Artist statement, biography, and CV
Sumi-e — Japanese ink painting — begins with a single breath. The brush loaded with ink, the hand poised above the paper: that moment of suspension before the stroke is already the painting. Once the mark is made, it cannot be taken back. There is no overpainting, no revision. Only the truth of the present moment, rendered in black ink on white paper.
My practice is rooted in this irreversibility. I work in the traditional subjects of East Asian ink painting — birds and flowers, landscapes, figures, animals, calligraphy — while remaining open to the unexpected encounters that arise in the act of painting. Each work is a record of attention.
Fumiyo Yoshikawa is a Nihonga and sumi-e artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Japan, she completed her formal training in classical Japanese painting at Kyoto University of Education (B.A., 1987) and continued her studies under the painters Okamura Rinkō, Ikeda Michio, and Ikeda Yōson within the Seitōsha school of the Shijō-Maruyama lineage (1987–2002).
In Japan, her work was selected for the Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and Kyoto Museum of Art, and recognized in major regional and national competitions, including the Mayor of Kyoto Prize (1987) and the Kyoto Broadcasting Prize (1989). She held solo exhibitions at Gallery Mouri (Ginza, Tokyo) and Gallery Shiki (Kyoto).
Since relocating to the United States, her practice has expanded to include solo exhibitions in California, Colorado, and Guatemala, with recent shows at Gallery Hillgate (Kyoto, 2019, 2024) and the Nova Orbis Arte y Música Forum (Guatemala, 2024). She has received the Best in Show — Painting Award (2021) and Best in Show — Calligraphy Award (2023) from the Sumi-e Society of America. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Alameda County Art Collection, the Kyoto University of Education Library, and the Western Colorado Center for the Arts.
Awards & Recognition
Selected Exhibitions
Collections
Education