Biography

Aya Uekawa (b.1979, Tokyo, Japan)

As a neurodivergent artist, Uekawa explores cultural identity, deeply psychological communication, and sociopolitical issues in her representational paintings created from her imagination. She received BFA in 2004, and MFA both from Hunter College, City University of New York in 2008. Uekawa’s works are in prestigious private and public collections such as Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, CA),  Cleveland Clinics Art Foundation, Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD), The Fuhrman Collection, Neumann Family Collection, Ovitz Family Collection, Burger COLLECTION Hong Kong, and are exhibited in Japan Society (New York, NY), Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH), FLAG Art Foundation (New York, NY), and among others. She lives and works in Beacon, NY.

Bibliography

Catalogs

Making a Home: Japanese Contemporary Artists in New York. Exhibition catalog. Japan Society, New York, NY, 2007.

The Incomplete. Exhibition catalog. Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY, 2007.

Glasner, Barbara, et al. Patterns 2: Design, Art and Architecture. Boston: Birkhäuser Verlag AG, 2008, 288–91.

Wall Rockets. Exhibition catalog. Curated by Lisa Dennison. FLAG Art Foundation, 2008.

AYA UEKAWA. Solo exhibition catalog. Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2009.

Anderson, Rudolph, and Cecilia Gunzburger Anderson. Pattern ID. Exhibition catalog. Akron, OH, 2010.

The Incomplete–Paris. Exhibition catalog. Galerie Jean-Luc & Takako Richard, 2010.

Selected Publications

Cascade, Rebecca. “Talent Show.” W, November 2006, 198.

Motley, John. “Arts Rodeo.” The Portland Mercury, February 2, 2006, 35.

Vanzetti, Oliver. “Aya Uekawa.” Flash Art International, October 2006, 55.

カニンガム、ジェイミー. “世界が尊敬する日本人100.” Newsweek (Japanese edition), October 17, 2007, 52.

Ichikawa, Akiko. “新世代の‘ヴォーグ’な女たち：Aya Uekawa 上川紋（アーティスト）.” Vogue Nippon, June 2007, no. 94, 139.

Everts, Von Lotte. “Mao Mit Popcorntüte.” Berliner Zeitung, September 4, 2007.

Rosenberg, Karen. “Willingly or Unwillingly, Calling New York Their Home.” The New York Times, November 9, 2007.

Frabetti, A. C. “Some Effects of Small Scale.” AEQAI, July 2009.

Morris, Matt. “Art: Aya Uekawa at the Contemporary Arts Center.” CityBeat, July 14, 2009.

Shiner, Eric. “A Utopia Revisited: Aya Uekawa.” Juxtapoz, no. 96 (January 2009): 64–77.

McVey, Kurt. “Japanese-American Painter Aya Uekawa Serves Up ‘American Pies’ at Kravets Wehby Gallery.” Fortune Magazine, December 2016.

“Meet Aya Uekawa | Artist & Mother.” Shoutout Miami, June 2021.