Leiko Ikemura


Leiko Ikemura is a Japanese-Swiss painter and sculptor.

Biography

Leiko Ikemura studied at Osaka University from 1970-1972. She then left Japan to study in Spain from 1973 to 1978 at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Granada and Seville. In 1979, Ikemura moved to Zurich to live and worked there for 4 years. The first of her mature paintings developed around 1980. The first solo exhibition in a public institution took place in 1983 at the "Bonn Kunstverein", in Bonn, Germany. That same year, she spent as an artist in residency in Nuremberg,. During the next several years, Ikemura had numerous solo exhibitions in galleries and public institutions, such as: the :de:Museum für Gegenwartskunst |Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, Melbourne International Biennial 1999, in the Japan Pavilion. In 1985, she moved to Cologne. Her interest in working with sculpture began in 1987. In the 1990s, the female figure crystallized as the main focus of her work. In 1991, Ikemura became a Professor for Painting at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.
Leiko Ikemura lives and works in Berlin and Cologne.

Awards