Kenichi Shikata (b. 1983, Kyoto) is a contemporary artist based in Tokyo and Chiba.
He studied architecture at the Art and Architecture School of Waseda University. During this period, he trained under Asao Tokolo. Using the properties of light and materials, he reveals the underlying structure of a space. His work extends beyond simply being site-specific, responding to situations shaped by the changing environment and human presence, while consciously treating physical and social constraints as his design premises.
He creates sculptures and installations as devices through which viewers and the environment interact, allowing the space to be continuously renewed.
He has participated in numerous art festivals, including Echigo-Tsumari Art Field Winter, Tokyo Biennale, Oku-noto Triennale, UBE Biennale (Yamaguchi Bank Prize), and the Kobe Biennale International Art in a Container Exhibition (Runner-up Prize). His major permanent installations include “Flowing time reflecting on the river,” a 3x30m large-scale ceiling work at MIYASHITA PARK (Shibuya), “GLOWING GROWING GROUND,” a series of works across six 6x3m wall surfaces at Osaka International Airport, and “Bubbles in flow” and “Soragiwa” at Kansai International Airport. His primary awards include the Chiba City Art and Culture Award for New Artists (Encouragement Award), the 13th KAJIMA Sculpture Competition (Silver Prize), the Lih Pao Sculpture Biennale Awards (Bronze Award, New Taipei, Taiwan), Arte Laguna Prize (Finalist, Venice), and the Aesthetica Art Prize (Shortlisted, York, UK).
To me, a work is a device for reading place and understanding the world.
I primarily work with metal, while also using a variety of materials such as paper, PVC, concrete, and wood to create sculptures, installations, and photography. The forms that emerge through materials and methods adapted to specific places and environments become points of departure for transforming the conditions of a place through the interaction between viewers and their surroundings.
A common thread throughout my practice is an inquiry into how environments, human relationships, and perception shape the structure of the world. In the Eye of the Machine series, composed in the manner of industrial machinery, I presented forms of spatiality generated through perception. In the Ray series, through a sequence of phenomena derived from the radial arrangement of mirrored stainless steel plates, I visualized the sequence of events that shape the world. Furthermore, in the Gravity series, created by making incisions in a single sheet of metal to visualize gravity and allowing form to be shaped by the Earth, I have explored how works take form through an engagement with conditions that operate beyond human intention, such as gravity itself.
These works do more than demonstrate relationships with the environment; they invite viewers to actively reconsider the site-specificity of a place and the structures of society through their encounter with the work. By connecting with the surrounding environment and the people who engage with it, the work holds an expansiveness that does not conclude within itself as a singular object.
Through these works, I have come to consider the surrounding environment and society as inseparable from us―fundamental elements that constitute who we are. For me, to understand the world means to expand my own space through relationships with what surrounds me. The role of the work as a device for encountering and reflecting on the structures of place and society also becomes a means through which I engage in dialogue and connection with the world.
2002-03 Studied at the Department of Architecture, Osaka University of Arts
2004- Studied under Asao Tokolo
2007 Graduated from the Department of Architectural Design, Art and Architecture School, Waseda University
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025 “Little lights become a crowd” BankART1929 + Yokohama Gate Tower OPEN CALL Start Gallery / Yokohama
2024 “Seeing is” H-Art Beat GALLERY / Tokyo
2023 “Situated situation” TIERS GALLERY / Tokyo
2022 “Being in the crowd of lights” Brillia Art Award 2022 THE GALLERY / Tokyo
2021 “Each form of being in the place” Tokiwa Lake Hall Art Gallery / Ube Yamaguchi Pref.
2020 “Transition” ROPPONGI TSUTAYA BOOK GALLERY / Tokyo
2019 “Swimming in the view” PARADISE AIR / Matsudo, Japan
2019 “Symbiosis” HAGISO / Tokyo
2017 “Ray” SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo
2016 “Vortex Wall” MITSUBA SPACE / Tokyo
2015 “First Solo Exhibition” GALLERY IRIYA / Tokyo
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 “Lih Pao International Sculpture Biennale Awards” Lih Pao Cultural Arts Foundation / New Taipei, Taiwan
2025 “Makurazaki International Art Award Exhibition” Makurazaki Cultural Center Nanmeikan Museum of Art / Makurazaki
2025 “The Color of Time, The Color of Place” / Empathy Gallery / Tokyo
2025 “A Collection of Your Eyes” / ART OSAKA Expanded Section / Creative Center OSAKA / Osaka (*100㎡ solo installation)
2024 “Arte Laguna Prize Finalist Exhibition” / Arsenale Nord / Venice, Italy
2024 “Echigo-Tsumari Art Field 2024 Winter” Matsudai "NOHBUTAi" Field Museum / Matsudai, Niigata, JP
2024 “Crossing” BAA Grand prize Exhibition THE GALLERY / Tokyo (*As a Solo installation)
2022 - 2023 “Kuroshima Fukuura Art project” Fukuura Port / Shika-machi, Kuroshima Area District for Historic Building / Wajima - Shika, Japan
2023 “Tokyo Biennale 2023” / Ohara building NO'5 / Tokyo
2022 “Art Slope” / SEIBU SHIBUYA Art Gallery / Tokyo
2021 “Oku-Noto Triennale 2020+” / Former school site, Former site of a cattle auction house / Suzu, Japan
2021 “WIRE-FRAME” Exhibition / TIERS Gallery / Tokyo
2021 “Nakanojo Biennale 2021” / The House of Pillars of Yamase (ICP) / Nakanojo, Japan
2020 “Aesthetica Art Prize 2020” / York Art Gallery / York UK
2019 “The 28th UBE Biennale” / Sculpture Hill in Tokiwa Park / Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan
2018 “14th Oita Asian Sculpture Exhibition” / Fumio Asakura Museum of Sculpture / Bungo-ono, Oita, Japan
2017 “SPIRITED AWAY” InART Space / Tainan, Taiwan
2016 “13th Oita Asian Sculpture Exhibition” /Fumio Asakura Museum of Sculpture / Bungo-ono, Oita, Japan
2014 - 2015 “Sculpture Project SiTE” / 21st century forest park / Matsudo, Japan
2015 “EAST-WEST ART AWARD 2015” / LA GALLERIA PALL MALL / London
2014 “The 13th KAJIMA sculpture selected works exhibition” / KI bldg. atrium / Tokyo
2013 “KOBE Biennale 2013 Art in a Container” / Port of Kobe / Kobe
2011 “Tokyo artpoint project BOKUTO MACHI MISE 2011 float”/ Tokyo
2011 “Spectacle on the bay” Cinema lab/ Yokohama, Japan
2010 “Sumida River Art Bridge 2010” Tobu Railway Viaduct Warehouse / Tokyo
Selected Permanent & Public Installations
2024 “Dancing light in the cradle” / GRAND LIVIO Omotesando / Omotesando, Tokyo
2023 “Crossing of Light” / GRAND MARINA TOKYO PARK TOWER KACHIDOKI SOUTH / Tokyo
2023– “Assimilated View” / 21st century Forest and Park / Matsudo, Japan
2021– “Collecting view in the well” / Sarue-onshi Park / Sumida, Tokyo
2020 “Flowing time reflecting on the river” / MIYASHITA PARK / Shibuya, Tokyo
2019 “Waft eyes” / The Fine Tower Umeda Toyosaki / Osaka
2019 “Drawing sky from a well” / Shinagawa Sea Side The Tower / Shinagawa, Tokyo
2018 “Bubbles in flow” / Kansai International Airport / Osaka
2018 “Soragiwa” / Kansai International Airport / Osaka
2018 “GLOWING GROWING GROUND” / Osaka International Airport / Osaka
2017 “Starry sky view” / Asahicho Clinic / Chiba, Japan
2025 Lih Pao International Sculpture Biennale Awards “Bronze Award” / New Taipei, Taiwan
2025 Makurazaki International Art Award “Netz Toyota Award” / Makurazaki, Japan
2025 The 23rd Chiba City Art and Culture Newcomer Award / Chiba, Japan
2024 Arte Laguna Prize 19th “Finalist” / Venice, Italy
2022 Brillia Art Award 2022 “Grand Prize” / Tokyo, Japan
2020 Aesthetica Art Prize 2020 “Shortlisted” / York, UK
2019 UBE Biennale International Sculpture Competition “Yamaguchi Bank Prize” / Ube, Japan
2018 14th OITA Asian Sculpture Exhibition “Bungo-ono Award” / Bungo-ono, Japan
2016 13th OITA Asian Sculpture Exhibition “Award for Excellence” / Bungo-ono, Japan
2015 EAST WEST ART AWARD 2015 “Grand Prize” / London, UK
2014 The 13th KAJIMA Sculpture Competition “Silver Award” / Tokyo, Japan
2013 Kobe Biennale 2013 Art in a Container International Competition “Second Prize” / Kobe, Japan
Selected Projects (Residencies, Design Collaborations, Lectures, Workshops)
2024 “ZYGZAG” Building, Environmental Graphic Design , Collaborative design with “hklstudio” / Good Design Award / Tokyo
2024 “Art Charity Sale for the Reconstruction of Suzu, Oku-Noto” / Art Front Gallery / Tokyo
2023 “Gift of color” Artwork Kit Project for Children / Ube City, UBE Biennale / Tokiwa Park / Ube, Japan
2021 “The Shape to Make with the Earth” workshop / Ube City / Ube, Japan
2021 “Nakanojo Biennale 2021” Artist-in-Residence / Nakanojo, Japan
2020 “PARADISE AIR”, Artist-in-Residence / Matsudo, Japan
2020 “Sequence of phenomenon” K1 lecture Vol.21 / Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei Inc. / Tokyo
2019 “PARADISE AIR - MATSUDO AWARD”, Selected Artist / Matsudo, Japan
2019 “Light of View -Let's take a look at the scenery of Ube-” workshop / The 28th UBE Biennale / Ube, Japan
2018 “LOVE THE DIFFERENCES” Sculpture Loan / Shiseido Company, Limited / Tokyo
2017 “TIERS”, Collaborative Design with hklstudio / Tokyo
Recipient of iF Design Award 2019 (Germany), DFA Awards 2018 Merit Award (Hong Kong), DAF Design Award 2017 Bronze Award (USA)
2015 “Asahicho Clinic”, Collaborative Facade Design with hklstudio / Chiba
Recipient of Chiba Architecture Culture Award, Chiba Urban Cultural Award, and JCD Award Best 100
ART FAIR TOKYO, ART OSAKA
-
Media Coverage (selected)
Aesthetica Magazine, ArchDaily, domus, Bijutsu Techo, Art Collectors, Shoten Kenchiku, NHK World Japan, Mainichi Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun Digital, Hokkoku Shimbun, Chunichi Shimbun, Chiba Nippo, Ayabe Shimin Shimbun