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AYANA OTAKE 大竹彩奈
Born in 1981 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Lives and works in Saitama Prefecture, Japan
In Japan, paintings that capture the beautiful appearance, or internal beauty, of women are known by a specific term, bijinga. As an artist whose works are mainly figurative, with women a particularly common motif, Ayana Otake has built substantial popularity among fans of the bijinga genre. Each stroke of her paintings is given the utmost care, weaving together lines and pigments into images of beautiful women with alluring charm. The kimono worn by the women in her paintings are an expression of Japanese notions of beauty and spirituality, granting her subjects an air that is dignified yet elevated from the every day.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Ayana Otake: Nihonga-ten (Nihonbashi Miitsukoshi, Tokyo)
2016
Ayana Otake: Nihonga-ten (Isetan Shinjuku, Tokyo, continued in 2018)
2014
Ayana Otake (Gallery Tomo, Tokyo, continued in 2015)
2013
The 46th L'ESPOIR Shinjin Senbatsu-ten: Ayana Otake (Ginz Surugadai Gallery, Tokyo)
2010
Ayana Otake (Gallery Shorewood, Tokyo)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
Reimagined: Contemporary Artists Take on The Tale of Genji (SEIZAN Gallery, New York)
2018
Art Fair Tokyo (Tokyo International Forum, Hakkendo Gallery Booth, Tokyo)
2017
Book launch exhibition: Bijinga zukushi (Gallery Art Morimoto, Tokyo)
2016
Mizue no kai (Morita Gallery, Toyo, continued every year afterward)
“Sugatatehiko Award Exhibition" (Kurayoshi Museum, Tottori)
"Harumachi no Tsuki" (Takashimaya, Tokyo, continued in 2018)
2014
Gyojo no kai: Research presentation by graduates of Tokyo University of the Arts, the 2nd Nihonga Studio (Surugadai Gallery, Toyo)
AWARDS
2009
Shorewood Award, Gallery SHINSEIDO (Tokyo)
2007
Salon de printemps Award, Taito-ku Mayor's Award (Tokyo)
Recipient of the Ikuo Hirayama Scholarship
2005
Ataka Award
EXHIBITIONS
REIMAGINED: CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS TAKE ON THE TALE OF GENJI