Biography
Akiko Yamamoto was born in Yamanashi in Japan. Growing up during the economic bubble of the 80s, she assumed that her artistic talent should be directed toward commercial art like graphic design, manga or film. Seeking more opportunity as a woman in a male-dominated world, she left Japan to pursue her education in the U.S., and completed a B.A. in Art History and Visual Art from Rutgers University. Her early career in New York as a graphic designer changed course when she became a mother and left the professional world to raise her children. It was during this time that she realized that she needed the unconstrained artistic freedom of painting, and decided to dedicate herself to pursuing a career as an artist. That period saw an intense exploration of mediums, styles and subject matter. Her oil and acrylic paintings range from her memory in Japan, her family in New York, deconstructed earthquake sites, and film and pure abstract shapes and patterns. They are the reflection of her hunger for experimentation and fundamental self discovery.
She has participated in a series of exhibits in the New York area:
Open Call - Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery - 2023, New York, NY
Solo Show - Mono no Aware, Red Fox Gallery -2023, Pound Ridge, NY
NY CONNECTION, Gallery SIACCA January - 2023, Tokyo, Japan
Anti-Nuke Power Art, Gallery Onetwentyeight - 2023, New York, NYPRINTS ON B'DWAY, Gallery Max New York - 2022, New York, NY
ChaShaMa Gallery Group Show, Everywhere and Nowhere - 2022, New York, NY
NYFA IAP Award - 2022, New York, NY
Society of Japanese and American Creators - group show - 2022, New York, NY
New York Live Art Gallery - Group show - 2022, New York, NY
NY CONNECTION, Gallery SIACCA January - 2022, Tokyo, Japan
JAA Hall Gallery - PEACE - Group show - 2021, New York, NY
West Orange Public Library Gallery - Anti Nuke Art Exhibition - Group show - 2020, West Orange County, New Jersey
Japan Information Center Gallery - Group show - Group show「Love,Family and Friends」- 2018, New York, NY
Gallery onetwentyeight - Group show - Phase - 2018, New York, NY
Miwa Art Gallery - Group show - 2013, New York, NY
Art For Japan Group Show at Ise Cultural Fundation - 2011, New York, NY
New York Institute of Technology - 2011, New York, NY
Solo Exhibition at Sohan Design Gallery - 2011, New York, NY
6 Person Show at Lotus Gallery - 2010, Brooklyn, NY
Be and Being Show at Aki Kumono Gallery- 2009, Brooklyn, NY