Leiko Ikemura

* in Tsu, Japan
lives in Berlin und Cologne, Germany

The painter and sculptor Leiko Ikemura studied Spanish literature at the Osaka University in Japan, and painting at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría in Seville, Spain. After her studies, she lived in Switzerland before moving to Germany in 1985. After her expressive early work made in the sphere of the Neue Wilde, Ikemura became internationally known through her images of cosmic landscapes and fairy tale-esque hybrid creatures which increasingly found expression also in sculpture. Themes in her images include areas of conflict between people and nature, consciousness and sub-consciousness, and foreign countries and homeland. A consistent examination of western art and that of her home country has led Ikemura to find a unique synthesis of both cultures. From 1990 to 2015 she held a professorship at the University of the Arts, Berlin; in 2009 she was awarded the August Macke Prize for her work.

“Imagination is the strongest force in my art.” (Leiko Ikemura)