Background

Noriko Shinohara was born in 1953, in Takaoka, Japan.

Education

In the early 1970's, Noriko studied at the Art Students League of New York. In 1995, she studied etching at Kyoto City University of Arts and Tokyo University of the Arts.

Career

It was in 1981, that Noriko introduced her work to the public for the first time at the Whitney Counterweight, an artist-initiated group show, held the same years, as the Whitney Biennial. Some time later, in 1986, she followed this with her first solo show, that took place at the Cat Club in New York City.

In 1994, Noriko turned her tumultuous experiences in New York City into the basis of her novella "New York of Sigh", which was accompanied by a solo exhibition in Tokyo. The following year, she spent time in Japan, studying etching at Kyoto City Art University and Tokyo National Art University.

In the early 2000's, Noriko's "Cutie and Bullie" series, for which she is best known, emerged. Beginning in 2006, this series has been composed of drawings, paintings and prints, that feature her characters Cutie and Bullie and are based on Ushio, her husband, and herself. Truthful to the point of discomfort, this series chronicles Noriko's early trials of being married to an older man and the difficulty of being an artist in New York City. The scenes, inspired by recent events, show Noriko's triumphs as both herself and the world outside are finally realizing her work and value.

It was in 2003 and 2005, that the artist's work was featured in one of the quarterly New Prints shows of the International Print Center New York. In 2007, Noriko was included in the Japan Society Gallery's "Making a Home: Japanese Contemporary Artists in New York", a group exhibition with Ushio, Yoko Ono, Yayoi Kusama and others.

In 2014, together with her husband, Noriko had a joint exhibition, "Shinohara Exhibition: Ushio and Noriko", at Tokyo Gallery, in Japan. The following year, the artist's works were presented during a solo exhibition, titled "Noriko Shinohara: New York Sighs", at La Petite Mort Gallery in Ottawa, Canada. In 2016, Shinohara held her solo exhibition at the Carlton University Art Gallery in Ottawa, Canada. In 2020, Noriko had another solo exhibition, "Noriko Shinohara: Cutie's Love Letter from Malta Island", held at Deborah Colton Gallery in Houston, Texas.

It's also worth mentioning, that Shinohara and her husband, Ushio, are the subjects of a documentary film, by Zachary Heinzerling, called "Cutie and the Boxer" (2013).

Currently, Noriko lives and works in Brooklyn, New York City.

Achievements

• Noriko Shinohara gained prominence for her "Cutie and Bullie" series, a story of her relationship with her husband Ushio. Her work was featured in several exhibitions at key galleries and museums, including the Tokyo Gallery and the La Petite Mort Gallery.

Works

More photos

• drawing

  • Reversible

  • Do You Have a Bank Account

  • Cutie as Olympia

  • Different in the Evening

• etching

  • Sunbath in Bamboo Grove

  • If Everybody Has Gone... After Sept. 11th....

  • In A Cactus Grove

  • Golden Temple

  • Un Voyage d'Inca V

  • Banana Party at the Garden of Versailles

  • Paris Under Bermuda Sea

  • Here is Still... After Sept. 11th

  • Un Voyage d'Inca IV

  • Un Voyage d'Inca II

  • Cypress

  • Much Ado About Nothing at St. Michael

  • Champagne on the Seine River

  • Un Voyage d' Inca III

  • Woman and Aloe

  • Pineapple Eaters in Venice

  • Un Voyage d' Inca I

  • Toto, We Are Not In Japan Anymore

• painting

  • In A Cactus Grove

  • Cutie has a Secret

  • Cutie as ...

• silkscreen

  • Kusama's Rooftop Performance, 1969

Views

Noriko's work brings together boldness of color, line and persistent humor. Instilling her work with irony and poignancy, her contemporary Japanese etchings and paintings draw inspiration from a variety of art styles across time and culture.

Quotations: "When I started Cutie I felt I am truly, from bone to skin, head to toe, an artist."

Personality

The nickname "Cutie" started in 2002 at the age of 49, when Shinohara was wearing her hair in two braids and a young man on the street called out to her "hey cutie".

Connections

Noriko Shinohara is married to Ushio Shinohara, a Neo-Dadaist artist, whom she had met a few months after arriving in New York City. The couple gave birth to a son, Alexander Kūkai Shinohara.

child:

Alexander Kūkai Shinohara

husband:

Ushio Shinohara

References

• Cutie and the Boxer The critically acclaimed love story about a former rising star in the New York art scene and his equally talented muse, as they navigate success, chaos, artistic passion and true love over four decades of marriage.
  2013