See link below for available works and prices

Tamiko Kawata received a BA in Sculpture from Tsukuba University in Japan. Her sculpture and large-scale installations have been exhibited at such institutions as the Museum of Art and Design, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, LongHouse Sculpture Gardens and Reserve, Kentler International Drawing Center, Heckscher Museum of Art, Dorsky Curatorial Projects, and Adelphi University in New York; Kostka Gallery/MeetFactory in Prague, Czech Republic; and Takano Art Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, to name a select few.

 

Born in Japan in 1936, Tamiko Kawata grew up in Tokyo during the climate of the World War II Era.  In the early years of her art career, Kawata was largely influenced by Bauhaus and Dada, and then the emergence of the Gutai Group.  Begun in 1954, Gutai was a Japanese avant-garde movement with radical, new ideas and approaches to making art.   All three art philosophies were particularly interested in unconventional materials, which had a great impression on the artist.   After moving to New York in the 1960s,  Kawata was inspired by safety pins while purchasing them to pin up the American clothing that was much too large for her small frame.  The physical practice of joining complex yet diminutive elements continues to provide both a meditative and diaristic process for the artist.

 

Artist Statement

Through my artwork, I am searching for another vision and another way of thinking for my life in the expressive space between installation works, sculptures and wall works. I like to use overlooked indigenous objects from our daily life as my media. Discarded materials are important to me not only for environmental issues but also to reflect my current life. My choice of materials and interpretation are influenced by the differences that I experience between life in America and Japan where I grew up.

 

Bauhaus and Dadaism - these philosophies were perfect to affect the wounded youth in post-World War II Japan and I was not an exception. I grew up learning from and observing them in my formative years in Japan. My sculptural education was very academic but these philosophies became a solid core for my way of thinking and for my art-making direction.

 

My works are personal; I work in large and small scales in belief of their potential for intimacy. They are my visual diaries.

Press

Tamiko Kawata featured on COLOSSAL
Tamiko Kawata featured on COLOSSAL
Holiday Treasures Under $1,200
Garvey│Simon opens an Artsy-exclusive exhibition curated by Louisa N. Pancoast Art Daily
Bodies and Buildings: The Dwellings of Dance Catalog
Tamiko Kawata in Woven Tale Press
Works featuring Tamiko Kawata's signature use of safety pins on view at Garvey/Simon
The Infinite Worlds Made from Pins
Women Artists Take on Heavy Metal
Metal Is Marvelous in the Hands of These Talented Women
Inward/Outward in Wall Street International
NYC Gallery Scene – Highlights Through January 7, 2018
Garvey/Simon opens a group exhibition curated by Joseph A. Gross
“Based on a true story” the Artwork of Tamiko Kawata and Supakitch Art in Brooklyn
"A Quiet Room" Exhibition
Adelphi University Presents Tamiko Kawata, Flow of Life: Nagare Press Release for Flow of Life: Nagare Exhibition
Making a point with 'Pins & Needles' art exhibit CT Post - Phyllis A.S. Boros
Reduce/Reuse/Reexamine: Tamiko Kawata's “Toward the Light/Archway.” The Brooklyn Rail - Denise McMorrow
Transcendental Vision / Sand City Richard Wittacker
Peaceful Contemplation in Works on Paper DNAInfo - Alan Neuhauser
Exhibition "Beyond Lines, Beyond Surfaces" Exhibition Brochure
Transcendental Vision inspires ambiguity, contemplation and quiet: Mighty Whispers. Monterey County NOW - Walter Ryce
Making the Ordinary Extraordinary The New York Times Art Reviews - Helen Harrison
Tamiko Kawata at EFA Studio Program
Bold Statement in Provincetown Staff Writer, Wicked Local
23 Apr. 2015
mall, unpretentious things make bold
statements at Kobalt Gallery in Provincetown
Tamiko Kawata, who came to the U.S. from Japan as a young adult, is fascinated with small, unpretentious
things and waste material from our daily lives, transforming them into three
-
dimensional observations on
America life and the environment.
Tamiko Kawata on 1stdibs
Tamiko Kawata on Artsy
Sculptural Safety Pin Jewelry by Tamiko Kawata