ARTIST STATEMENT
Rejecting the rigid and competitive world of his youth, Hiromitsu Kuroo embraced the artistic world, where creativity, individuality, and self-expression are held in high esteem. Being a Japanese expatriate in New York, Kuroo struggles with his cultural identity and his current New York existence. Through his work, he attempts to bridge these two very different worlds.
Born in Yokohama, Japan, Kuroo is a collage painter working in the tradition of Origami (the art of folding paper). In his case, the canvas serves as the paper, and the gentle manipulation of its surface is how he conveys intricate textural landscapes. The multiple layers of colors in his folded canvases are revealed by sanding the canvas surface. Interested in the juxtaposition and vitality of collaged pieces of canvas, he uses them to accentuate other emerging shapes in his compositions.
Kuroo was a featured artist in the Yamagata Rising Artists Exhibition held in 1999, where he was interviewed on Yamagata TV. In 2002, his Gallery Yamaguchi solo exhibit was featured in Kahoku Newspaper.
He has exhibited at the Uneo Royal Museum, Tokyo (1999), the Ishibashi Museum of Art, Fukuoka (2000), and the Kouriyama Museum Fukushima (2000). In the United States, he has had solo shows at The Bronx Community college, NY (2006), Gloria Kennedy Gallery, NY (2007, 2008 and 2009), Graphite.NY (2011), Tenri Gallery NY (2012) ,1133 Lobby gallery (2014) and MIKIMOTO NY (2014) . He was awarded The Pollock-Krasner foundation Grant (2019 and 2010).
Hiromitsu Kuroo’s works are held in the permanent collections of Miyagi National School of Technology, Tohuku University of Art and Design, and by the City of Yamagata, Japan. Kuroo lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
RESUME
Education
2004-2007 Art Students League of NY
MFA 1998 Tohoku University of Art &Design
BFA 1996 Tohoku University of Art &Design
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2017 “Innovative Concepts to Origami” Resobox (New York)
2014 “Hiromitsu Kuroo” MIKIMOTO NY (New York)
2014 “Hiromitsu Kuroo” 1133 Lobby Gallery The Durst Organization and chashama present (New York)
2012 “Kan no Mado” Tenri Gallery (New York)
2012 “Stroke” Makari (New York)
2011 “Seeds of Expression” Graphite (New York)
2009 “Hiromitsu Kuroo #3” Gloria Kennedy Gallery (New York)
2008 “Hiro Returns” Gloria Kennedy Gallery (New York)
2007 “Origami Reinvented” Gloria Kennedy Gallery (New York)
2006 “Folded Colors” The Bronx Community College (New York)
2002 “Hiromitsu Kuroo” Gallery Yamaguchi (Tokyo)
2001 “Hiromitsu Kuroo” G-Art Gallery (Tokyo)
2000 “Hiromitsu Kuroo” G-Art Gallery (Tokyo)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018- 13 Summer Salon Exhibition (Makari, NY)
2015 Little Things Mean a Lot (Wook Choi Gallery, NY)
2015, 13 Asian Society of Arts ,Annual Exhibition (2015, Tenri Gallery, NY) (2013,Caelum Gallery, NY)
2015 Layers: skal art prijct present, (BOE, Brooklyn, NY)
2013 Past, Present, Present (Gallery128, NY)
2012, 11, 10 Studio Artist Exhibition (NARS Foundation, NY)
2011 Winter Salon (Lesley Heller Workspace, NY)
2011 Love for Nippon Art (PARCO-Shibuya, Tokyo)
2010 Color Speaks (Heather James Fine Art. Palm Desert, CA & Jackson, WY)
2006 Func Art+’ (Gloria Kennedy Gallery, New York)
2006 JAVA STUDIO Art Show (Brooklyn, NY)
2006 Competition Slide Show (Virdian Artist, New York, NY)
2006 Art World (The Times Square Lobby Gallery, New York, NY)
2005 Competition (St. John’s University, New York, NY)
2005 Competition (Gallery International, Baltimore, MD)
2003 Art Jam (Gallery Yamaguchi, Tokyo)
2002, 01 Assistants Exhibition of Tohoku University of Art & Design (7F Gallery in the University)
2001 Singen Exhibition (Sendai Media theque, Miyagi)
2001 The Palm of One Hand –Size Works (Gallery Gobangai, Miyagi)
2000 Kankai Exhibition (Shinchi Town Farm Environment Improvement center Fukushima)
2000 Memorial Exhibition of Shigeru Aoki (Ishibashi Museum of Art Fukuoka, Koriyama City Art Museum Fukushima)
1999 Yamagata Prefecture Rising Artists Exhibition (Yusoukan Gallery, Yamagata)
1999 Picture Diary for 100Days Exhibition by 10 Artists (Gallery Arata, Miyagi)
1999 Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition (Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo)
1997 3Artists Exhibition Masters Course of Tohoku University of Art & Design (Tohoku University of Art & Design)
Selected Bibliography
Shukan New York Seikatsu “Men’s Column” Yukiko Takada. July 2014
Kan no Mado(window of midwinter) Thalia Vrachopoulos. Nov 2012
HYPERALLERGIC “Go Sunset park: An Emerging Art Community” Allison Meier. Sep 2012
Jackson Hole News & Guide, Katy Niner. Jun 2011
FLASH ART ONLINE, IT Amalia Piccinini, May 2008
Awards / Residence
2019 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (New York)
2019 The Golden Foundation Residency Program (New York)
2010 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (New York)
2007 Xavier Gonzalez and Ethel Edwards Grant (Art Students League of NY)
Collections
Yamagata Prefecture
Tohoku University of Art & Design
Miyagi National of Technology
Teaching Experience
2016~ Work Shop Instructor (Art Students League of NY)
2003-1999 Teaching Assistant (Tohoku University of Art & Design)
1998 Instructor of Sendai Art School MELON
2010 - present
2010 - present