NOBUKO WATABIKI NOBUKO WATABIKI

NOBUKO WATABIKI

NOBUKO WATABIKI
NOBUKO WATABIKI

Lives and works in Hamburg, Germany, since 2008. Studied printing at Musashino Art School. While working at the advertising company and the nursing institution for the handicapped, Watabiki began pursuing her artistic practice. She explored the photo collage works at the beginning before gradually establishing her distinctive style, using washi paper, textile and oil pastel. After relocating her base to Germany, she expanded the range of materials and modes of expression, incorporating fabric collage and using canvas as a support. Her theme extends from self-examination to engagement with others. The intriguing motif and the prosaic title leave unforgettable resonance. Since 2011, she has joined the project TEGAMI which delivers letters to encourage and support people in Fukushima and in 2017, and began creating the Portraits of Family series, exploring the theme of diversity.

ARTWORKS

ARTICLES

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS, COLLECTIONS

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026
The Path Traced by Light (Whitestone Ginza New Gallery, Tokyo)
Zwischen Menschen und Pflanze (Galerie in Tulla, Manheim, Germany)
2024
eine frage der Identität (TAKE | Maracke & Partner, Kiel, Germany)
2023
Three In One: Art of WATABIKI (Whitestone Gallery, Taipei)
2022
Pie in the sky (Whitestone Ginza New Gallery, Tokyo)
Tagai-ni-tsunagu-mono, Te-de-sasayaku: things connecting to each other, wispering by hand (Higashikawa, Hokkaido, Japan)
2021
Folge sanft der Anteilbaren Linie (Hauptkirche St. Jacobi Hamburg, Germany)
2020
PARADIES (Goldbekhof, Hamburg)
2019
Familienportrait (Künstlerhaus Hamburg, Bergedorf, Germany)
2018
The Fox Knows Many Things, but the Hedgehog Knows a Big Thing (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo “Florencio de la Fuente” de Requena, Valencia, Spain)
Facing Each Other is Intended (Galerie Renate Kammer, Hamburg)
2017
Sound of the Void Next to you (Satellite Gallery of Aichi University of the Arts, Japan)
Hase und Igel meet Usagi To Kame (Marschtorzwinger, Buxtehude, Germany)
2016
NOBUKO WATABIKI: Yume Asobi (Whitestone Gallery HK, Hong Kong)
2013
Versuchsanordnung (Hamburger Rathaus, Hamburg)
Textile and Paper Paintings (Galerie Renate Kammer, Hamburg)
2010
Solo Exhibition (RuArts Gallery, Moscow, Russia)
2009
Solo Exhibition (Frise Künstlerhaus Hamburg e.V., Hamburg)

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025
AND SO ON TO INFINITY (Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg)
The Realm of Tales (Whitestone Gallery, Beijing)
2024
Fantasia (Whitestone Gallery HK, Hong Kong)
2023
JAPAN WOCHEN in Barmstedt Kunst-Dokumentation-Begegnung (Barmstedt, Germany)
2021
SERIES - Prints from Warhol to Wool (Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg)
2020
Spring Accent: Japanese contemporary art (Whitestone Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan)
2019
BELVEDERE (Kawahara Krause Architects and Nobuko Watabiki, Planten un Blomen, Hamburg)
Shouts and murmurs by women-the Vulnerable collective will change the World, Group Show of Contemporary Artists 2019 (TOKYO METROPOLITAN ART MUSEUM, Tokyo, Japan)
2017
I Love Taiwan (Whitestone Gallery Taipei)
2014
Above Us Only Sky 8 (Bremer Kunstfrühling 2014, Bremen, Germany)
2013
Skulpturenprojekt Wallanlangen (Stade, Germany)
POESIA, Art works from the Reinking Collection (Städtische Galerie Delmenhorst, Germany)
2012
Women In-Between: Asian Women Artists 1984–2012 (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum / Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum / Tochigi Prefecture Art Museum of Fine Arts / Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Japan)
Domani (The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan)
2010
Inocence – Art Towards Life (Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan)
Side by Side (Kioski Galleria Kynnys ry, Helsinki, Finland)
2005
Life Actually-MOT Annual 2005 (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo)
2003
City Net Asia 2003 (Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea)
1999
Noontime Meditation (Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan)

 

COLLECTIONS

Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts (Tochigi)  / Reinking Collection (Germany) / Japan Energy Cooperation, etc.

IMAGES

"Pie in the sky", Ginza New Gallery, 2022
"Pie in the sky", Ginza New Gallery, 2022
"Pie in the sky", Ginza New Gallery, 2022

BIOGRAPHY

1958
Born in Tokyo
2008-
Stay in Hamburg (Germany) by Japanese government overseas study program for artists

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest updates.

Get exclusive access to the newest exhibition information and member-only events available only to newsletter subscribers.


After submitting your email address, you will receive a confirmation email. Please click on the link in the email to complete your registration.