Emiko Aida

An exceptionally talented printmaker, Emiko Aida has shown with us for over a decade as her career's progressed, taking her all over the world, showing in exhibitions and biennales; her works are currently held in private, public, and corporate collections. Emiko works in a diverse range of ways, etching and printing inventively, returning again and again to the sacred in nature and the continuity between modernity and tradition.

Education

MA Printmaking, Royal College of Art (1989)

Artist statement

Growing up in Tokyo over 20 years and living in London for a similar length of time gave me a curiosity about people in large cities and myself amongst them. What is the relationship between traditional and modern culture? Where do I belong? Where am I going? These kinds of endless questions evoke in me feelings of how fragile and lonely humankind is. It seems like all lives and their experiences cross between reality and illusion. My work of asks questions in the air without sound and I try to hear the answers in return to make sure where I am.

Recent View: Several years ago I revisited Kyoto, an ancient city in Japan. I am originally from Japan, but it was the first trip to Kyoto since my childhood. As an artist and Buddhist I was searching for the key ingredient of Japanese art. When I popped into Higashi Honganji, one of the main temples of Jyodo shin Buddhism, I came across monks sitting on a well-polished black floor in a dark room. The surroundings were golden walls and features. The monks appeared to be floating in meditation. I felt ‘This is it!’ To reach the other world / one step higher towards abstraction, and I sensed, the black and gold in the darkness indicated my direction. Since then I have been trying to depict something very subtle and invisible using these colors.

Selected exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions
(2019) Solo show, For Art Sake, London, UK
(2002) Solo show, Gallery West, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibitions
(2026) RE Original Prints, Bankside Gallery, London, UK
(2026) Sounds of Water, Sturt Haaga Gallery, California, USA
(2025) Printmaking 2025, The Burton at Bideford Art Gallery and Museum, Devon, UK
(2025) Original Print Show, Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich, UK
(2025) 45th Anniversary, Bankside Gallery, London, UK
(2025) Group shows, Anna Lorimer Gallery, Ragby, UK
(2024) Small But Mighty, Bankside Gallery, London, UK
(2024) RE Original Print, The Bevere Gallery, Worcester, UK
(2023) Art in Bloom, Liberation Art Gallery, Brighton, UK
(2023) Walking with Giants, Boomer Gallery, London, UK
(2023) Chelsea Physic Garden 350 Years in Paint & Prints, Bankside Gallery, London, UK
(2023) London Original Print Fair, Bankside Gallery, Somerset House, London, UK
(2022) In Print: Kaleidoscopic, Watts Gallery, Surry, UK
(2022) From Within, Liberation Art Gallery, Brighton, UK
(2022) London Art Biennale, Chelsea Old Town, London
(2019) Contemporary art fair, Clio Art Fair, New York, USA
(2019) London Original Print Fair, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
(2019) Artists from Japan, Viridian Artists Gallery, New York, USA
(2019) Art on Paper, Pier 36, New York, USA
(2019) Venice Biennale, Palazzo Mora, Biennale, Italy
(2019) Contemporary Printmakers, Coombe gallery, Devon, UK
(2019) Contemporary Printmakers, Coombe gallery, Devon, UK, Devon, UK
(2019) Art Expo (on screen), Zurich HB Main Station, Zurich, Switzerland
(2018) Contemporary art fair, Clio Art Fair, New York, USA
(2018) London Original Print Fair, UK, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
(2018) Art Box Project (on screen), The Stricoff Gallery, New York, USA
(2017) Contemporary Art Fair, Sydney Art Fair, Sydney, Australia
(2016) Group show, Bluecoat display Centre, Liverpool, UK
(2015) Printmakers show, Burton Art Gallery, Devon, UK
(2015) Printmaking show, St. Barbes Museum, Lymington, UK
(2015) Prints show, The Rheged Gallery, Cambria, UK
(2013) Edinburgh Festival,, Dovecot Gallery, Edinburgh, UK

Original works

Original works

Sold 15