Yuken Teruya


About


Yuken Teruya (1973, Japan) is an artist based in Berlin and in New York. He works with various materials such as toilet paper rolls, paper shopping bags, Monopoly paper money and butterfly chrysalises. His ideas often reflect life and history of Okinawa, his homeland. Simplicity and extravagance mingled in these works of surprising amplitude. Using only common paper objects and ambient light, Yuken Teruya created entire solar systems and life cycles. When cutting out portraits of trees he uses a photograph and strictly follows it. It becomes a life cycle from tree to paper to product and back to become a tree again. A holistic approach realted to Japanese tradition. Teruya received his BFA from Tama Art University, Tokyo in 1996, and his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2001.

He has shown in several solo exhibitions at spaces including Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York; Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Miami; Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica; Dahlem Ethnological Museum/Asian Art Museum, Berlin; Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London; and The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo. His work was also featured in Paper at Saatchi Gallery, London (2013); the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012); Ties over Time: Japanese Artists and America at the US Ambassador’s House, Tokyo (2010); Hundred Stories about Love at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2009); The Shapes of Space at The Guggenheim, New York (2007); Greater New York 2005 at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, NY.

His work is included in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Guggenheim, New York; Flag Art Foundation, New York; The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; the Charles Saatchi Collection, London; 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; and Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, among others.

Work


Minding my own Business

Rain Forest

CV


Education

2001 Master of Fine Art, School of Visual Arts, New York City, USA
1999 Post Baccalaureate, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, USA
1996 Bachelor of Fine Art, Tama Art University, Tokyo, JP

Solo Exhibitions (selected)

2021
Solo exhibition, New Work, Gallery Okinawa, J

2020
We Belong Here, Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Miami, FL

2019
My Plan B Is Maybe My Plan A, Dorothée Nilsson Gallery, Berlin, DE

Cutting Trees, Sugar Hill Museum, New York City, USA

2018
Lost Found, Live Forever Art Foundation, Taichung, TW

2017
Parade From Far Far Away, Gallery Okinawa, Okinawa, JP 

2016
Monopoly, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK

2015
The Simple Truth, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, USA 

2014
On Okinawa: Dahlem Ethnological Museum/Asian Art Museum, Berlin, DE

2013
New Work, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK 

+ PLANT/PLANT, Galerie Momogusa, Gifu prefecture, JP

Cut n’ Dry Vol.2, Capsule, Tokyo, JP

Yumiko Chiba Associates Booth, Hong Kong Art Basel, Hong Kong

Area of Calm: Gallery Zero, Arts Maebashi, Maebashi, JP

2012
Cut n’ Dry, Capusule, Tokyo, JP

Folded Reflections, Maki Fine Arts, Tokyo, JP

Gallery Okinawa, Okinawa, JP

2011
Journey, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, USA

2010
Earn a Lot of Money, No Need Send Any Letter, Send Money Home First, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, USA 

My Great Grandma is USA, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, JP

2009
Gallery Okinawa, Okinawa, JP

2007
Murata & Friend Gallery, Berlin, DE

Free Fish, Asia Society, New York City, USA 

Yuken Teruya and 3D News, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, USA

2006
Waterborne Island, Asahi Art Collaboration, Tokyo, JP

Straight Flavor, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, JP

2005
Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, USA

FOREST INC., Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, USA 

2004
Diverse works, Voges + Partner, Frankfurt, DE

Murata & Friends Gallery, Berlin, DE

2003
Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR, USA 

2002
Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA

K.S. Art, New York, NY, USA 

The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Arts, Ridgefield, CT, USA 

1995
Ann Gallery, Saitama, JP

Group Exhibitions (selected)

2020

Bangkok Art Biennale, Collaboration with Linda Havenstein, Bangkok, TH

Backseat Driver, Yuken Teruya and Kameelah Janan Rasheed, New York City, USA

Monopoly Money, Bar Am (Würfel), Berlin, DE

Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2019

4th Triennale of Kogei, Kanazawa, JP

Where we now stand – In order to map the future, 21th Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, JP

Mediums of Exchange, Shirley Fiterman Art Center BMCC, New York City, USA 

2018

12th Shanghai Biennale, Pro Gress, Shanghai, CN

Yambaru Art Festival, Okinawa, JP

A Reunion with the Sea: Tealism as Modern Asian Thought, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, Okinawa, JP

2017

Contemporary Sublime: Annie Kammerer-Butrus and Yukon Teruya, Westobou Gallery, Augusta, GA, USA 

2016

Good news, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, USA

MOT Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), Tokyo, JP

Force of Nature, Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, BE

2015

Gallery Collection, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, JP

Living Locally. Reconsidering Critical Regionalism, Arts Maebashi, Maebashi, JP

We can make another future: Japanese art after 1989, Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Brisbane, AU

Today is the Day. Exhibition for the 70th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Art Gallery Miyauchi- Miyauchi Art Foundation, Hatsukaichi, JP

Take Me to the River – Currents of the contemporary Dojima River Forum, Dojima River Biennale 2015: Osaka, JP

Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life, Hå gamle prestegard, Stavanger, NO

Social and art: Post-war Okinawa Society and Art, Urasoe Art Museum, Urasoe, JP

Recent Acquisitions: A Selection 2013-2015, Arts Maebashi Gallery, Maebashi, JP

Revolt: Aesthetics of Dissent and Disgust, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA 

AND, 601 Artspace, New York City, NY, USA

2014

Go-Betweens: The World Seen Through Children, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (Travelled to Nagoya City Museum, Nagoya, Japan; Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, Okinawa, JP; The Museum of Art, Kochi, Kochi, JP

Forward Looking: Artists Rethinking The Future, Solent Showcase, Southampton, UK

Winter Show, Maki Fine Arts, Tokyo, JP

Chronicle 1995: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, JP

Hand Made Real Art: Hajimari Art Center, Fukushima, JP

Collection: Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum, Okinawa, JP

Asian Anarchy Alliance: Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, TW

Tag-Ten: Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, JP

visions | for the world to come, Camp Talganie, Okinawa, JP

2013

SITE: Place of Memories, Spaces with Potential, Hiroshima MOCA, JP

Something about a Tree, curated by Linda Yablonsky, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York City, NY, USA

PAPER, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK 

Re:Quest – Japanese Contemporary Art since the 1970s, Seoul National University Museum, KR

2012

Artists and the Disaster, Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower, Mito, JP

The First Cut, Manchester City Galleries, Manchester, UK

Sky over My Head, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, JP

Okinawa Art in New York, Nippon Club, New York City, NY, USA

Journey to the West, Lalit Kala Akademi Gallery, New Delhi, IN

18th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, AU

No Other Medicine, NY Studio Gallery, New York City, NY, USA 

Paperless, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

Double Vision: Contemporary Art from Japan: Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, RU 

Double Vision: Contemporary Art from Japan: Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, IL

2011

Okinawa/Taiwan, Maki Fine Art, Tokyo, JP

Secret Language of Flowers, Andipa Gallery, London, UK

4th Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Moscow, RU

Making Nature, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, KE, USA

Material / Immaterial, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA

Forces of Nature, Danese Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

The Tree, James Cohen Gallery, Shanghai, CN

2010

Companion, efa project space, New York City, NY, USA

Roppongi Crossing, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, JP

Ties Over Time: Japanese Artists and America, House of the US Ambassador, Tokyo, JP

Making Nature, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, IR

Popping Up, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong, CN

Inaugural Show, Maki Fine Art, Tokyo, JP

2009

The Book Borrowers: Contemporary Artists Transforming the Book, Bellevue Arts Museum, Seattle, WA, USA 

Migration and Expression, Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum, Okinawa, JP

Atomic Sunshine, Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum, Okinawa, JP

Hundred Stories about Love, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, JP

Forces of Nature, Danese Gallery, New York City, NY, USA 

The Tree, James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai, CN

WALL ROCKETS: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha, curated by Lisa Dennison, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA 

Vested Interest, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA

Landscape: Lu-Lu-Lu, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum, Shizuoka, JP

2008

Cut: Makings of Removal, Vincent Price Art Museum, Monterey Park, CA, USA 

Okinawa Montaged, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, JP

Drawn in the clouds: Contemporary Asian Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, FI

It’s Getting Hot in Here, Akus Gallery at Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT, USA

Second Lives, Museum of Arts & Design, New York City, NY, USA 

Wall Rockets, curated by Lisa Dennison, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York City, USA

Into the Atomic Sunshine, Daikanyama Hillside Forum, Tokyo, JP

Transformed, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, VA, USA 

Art Scope 2007/2008, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE

When Lives Become Form: Dialogue with the Future – Brazil, Japan, Museum of Modern Art, San Paulo, BR

It’s Getting Hot in Here, Montserrat College of Art Museum, New Beverly, MA, USA

Into the Atomic Sunshine, Puffin Room, New York, USA

2007

Attention to Detail, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA

Milk Crown and Mushroom Cloud, curated by Manabi Murata, David Castillo Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

Un/Fair Trade, Neue Galerie Graz, Graz, AT

Making a Home: Japanese Contemporary Artists in New York, Japan Society, New York City, NY, USA

Super PHAT, presented jointly by SVA and the SVA Japan Alumni Association, New York City, NY, USA

The Shapes of Space, Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, USA

Thermocline of Art – New Asian Waves, ZKMI: Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, DE

Asia-Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, AU

2006

Crafty, Mass Art, Boston, MA, USA 

Gardens, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota, JP 

Rapt!, Object Gallery, Sydney and Gertrude Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne, AU

Bangladesh Biennial, Dhaka, BD

Among the Trees, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ, USA 

Waterborn Islands, Asahi Art Collaboration, Tokyo, JP 

2005

The Altoids Curiously Strong Collection, Consolidated Works, Contemporary Drawing: Six Perspectives, Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, Old Westbury, NY, USA 

The Acceptance World, Laura Bartlett Gallery, London, UK

Lost and Found, Gallery Sowaka, Kyoto, JP

Yokohama International Triennial, Yokohama, JP

Knock, Gallery Sowaka, Kyoto, JP

Another Expo: Beyond the nation-state, White Box, New York City, NY, USA

7th Annual Altoids Curiously Strong Collection, Luckman Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Greater New York, P.S.1, Contemporary Art Center, New York City, NY, USA

Material Matters, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Which way the tomorrow is?, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, JP

A Stereoscopic Vision, Dumbo Arts Center, New York City, NY, USA 

2004

Simply Drawn, Luxe Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

Fuchu Biennale, Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo, JP

Refrain; Korean, Balkan, Okinawa, Total Museum of Contemporary Arts, Seoul, KR

Newspapers, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, NY, USA 

Initial Encounters, Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, New York City, NY, USA

Knots ‘n’ Structure, Gallery Evan, New York City, NY, USA

Dessins et des autres, Galerie Anne De Villepoix, Paris, FR

Dessins et des autres, Galerie Catherine, Brussels, BE

Intense Focus, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR, USA

Drawing Outloud, HDC Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

2003

You-I You-I, Murata & Friends, Berlin, DE

Slab, University Gallery, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA

Hello Franklin, IM N IL Gallery, New York City, NY, USA 

Okinawan Contemporary Art, Naha City Gallery, Okinawa, JP

White Meat & Sunlite, Wiensowski und Habord, Berlin, DE

Midnight’s Children, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA

Selections Fall 2003, The Drawing Paper, New York City, NY, USA 

Better Homes and Gardens, Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA

Group Show, Vogas + Partner, Frankfurt, DE

Too Fresh, Nurture Art Gallery and Emerging Curator’s Resource Center, New York City, NY, USA

Group Show, Gallery Evan, New York City, NY, USA

TERRARIUM, Bronx River Art Center, New York City, NY, USA 

2002

VOCA: Vision of Contemporary Artists, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, JP

Model World, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Arts, Ridgefield, CT, USA

Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, NC Paper Cut, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY, USA

Before and After, The Asian Art Initiative, Philadelphia, PA, USA

2001

Humble, curated by Gerald McCarthy, Gallery Korea, New Yor Plant Life, curated by Patrick Callery K.S. Art, New York City, NY, USA

Signature, Paper-bag and Self-Portrait, curated by Mihee Ahn, IM N IL Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

Young Horses, curated by Andy Cannon, The Jam Factory, London, UK

Hot Lunch, School of Visual Arts Soho Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

Interior Landscapes, curated by Susan White and Marcia Godosky, Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art Gallery, New York City, NY, USA 

Retro Future Present, Magnifik Gallery, New York City, NY, USA 

2000

A-Mail, Hofer Galeriehaus, Hof, DE MFA Special Exhibition, School of Visual Arts Soho Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

A topic Site: On Camp Off Base, Tokyo Bigsite, Tokyo, JP

1995

CHURA, Okinawa City Gallery, Okinawa, JP

Publications

2019

My Plan B Is Maybe My Plan A, Dorothée Nilsson Gallery, Berlin, DE

Cutting Trees, Sugar Hill Museum, New York City, NY, USA

2018

Lost Found, Live Forever Art Foundation, Taichung, TW 

2017

Parade From Far Far Away, Gallery Okinawa, Okinawa, JP

2016

Monopoly, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK

2014

The Simple Truth, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

On Okinawa: Dahlem Ethnological Museum/Asian Art Museum, Berlin, DE

2013

New Work, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK

+ PLANT/PLANT, Galerie Momogusa, Gifu prefecture, JP
Cut n’ Dry Vol.2, Capsule, Tokyo, JP
Area of Calm: Gallery Zero, Arts Maebashi, Maebashi, JP

2012
Cut n’ Dry, Capusule, Tokyo, JP
Folded Reflections, Maki Fine Arts, Tokyo, JP
2011
Journey, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA

2010
Earn a Lot of Money, No Need Send Any Letter, Send Money Home First, Josée
Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, NY, USA
My Great Grandma is USA, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, JP

2009
Gallery Okinawa, Okinawa, JP

2007
Murata & Friend Gallery, Berlin, DE
Free Fish, Asia Society, New York City, NY, USA
Yuken Teruya and 3D News, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA 

2006
Waterborne Island, Asahi Art Collaboration, Tokyo, JP
Straight Flavor, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, JP

2005
Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
FOREST INC., Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, NY, USA

2004
Voges + Partner, Frankfurt, DE
Murata & Friends Gallery, Berlin, DE

2003
Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR, USA 

2002
Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
K.S. Art, New York City, NY, USA
The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Arts, Ridgefield, CT, USA

1995
Ann Gallery, Saitama, JP

Collections (selected)

Guggenheim Museum, NYC, USA
The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, USA
Daiichi Seimei Museum, Tokyo, JP
Seattle Art Museum, WA, USA
Twigg-Smith Collection, USA
Altoids Collection, New Museum, NYC, USA
Norton Collection, USA
Charles Saatchi Collection, London, UK
Sakima Art Museum, Okinawa, JP
Prefectural Art Museum, Okinawa, JP
Daiwa Press, Hiroshima, JP
Flag Art Foundation, NY, USA
Daimler Art Collection, DE
Hoffman Collection, Berlin, DE
Mori Museum, Tokyo, JP
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, AU
Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Takamatsu, JP
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, JP