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MINORU OHIRA

 

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Born in Niigata, Japan 

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

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EDUCATION

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  • Kanazawa City Arts and Crafts College, 1975 Bachelor of Fine Arts, BFA

  • Tokyo National University of Arts, 1977 Masters in Art Education, MFA

  • Mexico National Institute of Art (La Esmelarda), 1979-81

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AWARDS

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  • 2013 The 26th Denchu Hirakushi Award, Ibara-City Okayama, Japan

  • 2009 The 36th Teijiro Nakagawa Award, Hokkaido Asashikawa, Japan

  • 2001 Special Prize (10th Osaka International Triennale), Osaka, Japan

  • 1998 Special Prize (Osaka International Sculpture Triennale), Osaka, Japan

  • 1996 Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum Prize, Japan

  • 1986 Lorser Feitelson Foundation, Los Angeles, California

  • 1980 Second Prize (1st Monumental Sculpture Competition, ”Pair City”), Tokyo, Japan

  • 1974 New Talent Prize (Shinseisaku Art Exhibition), Tokyo, Japan

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COLLECTIONS & COMMISSIONS

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  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

  • Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art, Asahikawa, Japan

  • Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata, Japan

  • The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

  • Hara Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tokyo, Japan

  • Mexico National Museum of Art, Mexico City, Mexico

  • Oh-Hara Fine Arts Museum, Kurashiki, Japan

  • Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

  • Long Beach Museum of Fine Arts, Long Beach, California

  • Pair City Building, Tokyo, Japan

  • Tainai-City Community Center, Niigata, Japan

  • Yoshida Junior High School, Niigata, Japan

  • Kurokawa Elementary School, Niigata, Japan

  • Kurokawa Junior High School, Niigata, Japan

  • Habikino City, Osaka, Japan

  • Silpakon University, Bangkok, Thailand

  • Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne, Australia

  • Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii

  • MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas

  • Yamasa Institute of Language and Culture, Okazaki, Japan

  • Coca Cola Corporation Headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia

  • Grand Hyatt Hotel Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

  • The Beach Club, Santa Monica, California

  • Microsoft, Seattle, Washington

  • Asahikawa City Sculpture Museum, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan

  • Ibara City Denchu Museum, Ibara City, Okayama, Japan

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LECTURES & RESIDENCIES

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  • 2019 Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, California (artist in residence, two-month period)

  • 2010 Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan (slide lecture)

  • 1998-2008 Kanazawa College of Art, Kanazawa, Japan (as a guest artist every year)

  • 2007 University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, (slide lecture)

  • 2004 Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon (video lecture)

  • 2004 University Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington (artist in residence, one-month period)

  • 2003 University Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington (slide lecture)

  • 2002 Microsoft, Seattle, Washington (slide lecture)

  • 2002 El Camino College, Los Angeles, California (lecture)

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
 

  • 2019 Minoru Ohira: Artist in Residence – Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, California

  • 2018 Minoru Ohira: Memory & Nature – Solo Exhibition, Sculpture, Palos Verdes Art Center, California

  • 2016 Minoru Ohira: Iki & Yabo – Solo Exhibition Sculpture Offramp Gallery, Pasadena, California

  • 2014 Minoru Ohira – Solo Exhibition Sculpture Offramp Gallery, Pasadena, California

  • 2014 Minoru Ohira Solo Exhibition Commemorating the 26th Denchu Hirakushi Award, Denchu Art Museum, Ibara, Okayama, Japan

  • 2013 Minoru Ohira Solo Exhibition commemorating the 26th the Denchu Hirakushi Award, Takashimaya Nihombashi, 6fl. Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2012 Minoru Ohira Solo Exhibition Space S, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2009 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2007 Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida

  • 2005 Ise Contemporary art Museum, Mie, Japan

  • 2004 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Yamaki Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan

  • 2004 OSU Fairbanks Gallery, Corvallis, Oregon

  • 2003 Bryan Ohno Gallery, Seattle, Washington

  • 2003 Kittredge Gallery, The University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington

  • 2002 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Bryan Ohno Gallery, Seattle, Washington

  • 2001 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2001 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, INAX Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2001 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, NOB Gallery, Okazaki, Japan

  • 2000 Elayne Jordan Collection, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, California

  • 1999 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Mitsubishi-jisho Street Gallery, Hiroshima, Japan

  • 1999 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, NOB Gallery, Okazaki, Japan

  • 1999 Golden West College Fine Art Gallery, Huntington Beach, California

  • 1999 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Gallery EMON, Nagoya, Japan

  • 1998 L.A. Artcore Center, Los Angeles, California

  • 1997 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, NOB Gallery, Okazaki, Japan

  • 1996 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Gallery EMON, Nagoya, Japan

  • 1996 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Gallery OH, Owari-Ichinomiya, Japan

  • 1996 Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum, Cal State University San Bernardino, California

  • 1995 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, NOB Gallery, Okazaki, Japan

  • 1995 The 8th Nagoya Contemporary Art Fair, Nagoya Municipal Art Gallery, Japan

  • 1994 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, California

  • 1993 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Yamaki Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan

  • 1993 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Gallery T.Y.K2, Tokyo, Japan

  • 1993 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, NOB Gallery, Okazaki, Japan

  • 1992 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 1991 Space Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1991 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, NOB Gallery, Okazaki, Japan

  • 1991 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Hiro Chikashige Gallery, Okayama, Japan

  • 1990 The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

  • 1990 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Sakura Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

  • 1990 Don Soker Contemporary Art, San Francisco, California

  • 1989 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 1989 Space Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1988 Sakura Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

  • 1987 Space Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1987 Don Soker Contemporary Art, San Francisco, California

  • 1986 Space Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1986 L.A. Artcore Center, Los Angeles, California

  • 1986 Santa Monica College Art Gallery, Santa Monica, California

  • 1986 Chabot College Art Gallery (two men), Hayward, California

  • 1985 James Tucotte Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1978 “Minoru Ohira One-Man Show”, Daiwa Niigata Gallery, Niigata, Japan

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

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  • 2022 "WINTER - 冬 Fuyu", S.E.A. + Gallery 612, Santa Monica, CA

  • 2022 "SPRING regenerate”, S.E.A, Hyperion, Los Angeles

  • 2022 "LA Art Show 2022" Sculpture section, Collaboration with S.E.A. & bG Gallery, Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA 

  • 2017 “Minoru Ohira: New Work & Echiko Ohira: New Work”, Offramp Gallery, Pasadena, California

  • 2015 “Paperworks”, Craft & Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California

  • 2015 “Black & White” Work by Anita Bunn, Robert Kushner & Minoru Ohira, Offramp Gallery, Pasadena, California

  • 2013 “Size Really Does Matter”, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 2009 “Artist File 2009 – The NACT Annual Show of Contemporary Art” The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2009 “INSIGHT/INSIDE LA “José Drudis-Biada Gallery, Mount Saint Mary’s College, Los Angeles, California

  • 2008 “Space Gallery December 1975 – August 1995” W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, USA

  • 2008 “oHIRa NOWling” – Echiko and Minoru Ohira’s Sculptures and Works on

    Paper, Todd Madigan Gallery, California State University, Bakersfield, California

  • 2007 “Minoru & Echiko Ohira, Nature of Materials”, Davis & Cline Gallery, Ashland, Oregon

  • 2007 “Resonance”, Poissant Gallery, Houston, Texas

  • 2006 “Two Men Show”, Atagoyama Artworks, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2006 “Group Exhibition”, Davis & Cline Gallery, Ashland, Oregon

  • 2006 “Minoru & Echiko Ohira, Materials & Nature”, The Armory Center For The Arts, Pasadena, California

  • 2005 “Group Exhibition”, Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center, Manhattan Beach, California

  • 2004 “Ichigo-Ichie”, Gallery 727, Los Angeles, California

  • 2004 “Celebrating Nature”, Craft & Folk Art Museum, L A, California

  • 2004 “Two Men Exhibition (with Marc Katano), Sabina Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 2003 “The Inspired Vessel”, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 2002 “The Wind from The West Coast”, (group show), Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata, Japan

  • 2002 “Global Address”, USC Fisher Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 2002 “Sculptors of Eastern Japan”, Tokyo Station Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2002 “Of Materials and Memory” (with Echiko Ohira), El Camino College Art Gallery Torrance, California

  • 2001 “Osaka Triennial2001”, Osaka, Japan

  • 2001 “Thoughts of Nature (With Mark Katano)”, Bryan Ohno Gallery, Seattle, Washington

  • 1999 “Plant Life”, Angeles Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro California

  • 1999 “Millennium”, Gallery Soolip, Los Angeles, California

  • 1999 “Organic Drift”, Dian Nelson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California

  • 1999 “Open and Closed: Artists Contemporary Books as Sculpture”, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, California

  • 1998 “Tale of Los Angeles”, Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1998 “Osaka Triennale 1998 – Sculpture”, Osaka, Japan

  • 1998 “Five Sculptors Figurative Works, Dian Nelson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California

  • 1998 “Japanese Mind”, Book Art Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, California

  • 1997 “West Coast Painting & Sculpture”, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, California

  • 1997 “Duet” (with Echiko Ohira), Gallery Soolip, Los Angeles, California

  • 1997 “The 6th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition, University of Hawaii, Monoa Art Gallery, Honolulu, Hawaii

  • 1997 “Pacific Rim Artists in California”, Cal State University of Bakersfield, California

  • 1996 “The Asahikawa Prize for Contemporary Wood Sculpture Exhibition”, Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art, Asahikawa, Japan

  • 1996 “Blessings and Beginnings”, Hebrew Union College Skirball Cultural Center, L.A

  • 1996 “Dichotomy (with Richard Johnston), Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, California

  • 1996 “Drawn From L.A”, The Armory Center for The Arts, Pasadena, California

  • 1996 “The Essential Object”, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, California

  • 1995 “Body Mind and Spirit”, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California

  • 1995 “Surroundings Two Man Show”, Brand Gallery, Santa Ana, California

  • 1995 “California In Three Dimensions” California Center for The Arts Museum, Escondido, California

  • 1994 “The 5th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition, University of Hawaii Manoa Art Gallery, Honolulu, Hawaii

  • 1994 “LAX (Five Japanese Artists in L.A.)”, JACCC Doizaki Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1994 “New Structuralists”, Boritzer/Grey/Hamano Gallery, Santa Monica, California

  • 1994 “Summer Sculpture Exhibition”, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, California

  • 1994 “Common Language (With Mark Katano)”, Sharon Truax Gallery, Venice, California

  • 1993 “Choice Encounters (permanent collection)”, Long Beach Museum of Art, California

  • 1993 “Elegant, Irreverent & Obsessive: Drawing in Southern California”, Cal State University Fullerton, Main Art Gallery, Fullerton, California

  • 1993 “Engaging Materials”, L.A Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1993 “Breaking Barriers”, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, California

  • 1992 “Sensibilities: Substance and Surface”, Jose Drudis-Biada Art Gallery,

    Mount ST Mary’s College, Los Angeles, California

  • 1992 “Drawing as Poem”, The Armory Center for The Arts, Pasadena, California

  • 1992 “Contemporary Drawings”, Claremont Graduate school West Gallery, California

  • 1992 “Pacific Rim”, Andrew-Shire Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1991 “Human Mark”, Yorba Buena Gardens Cultural Center, San Francisco, California

  • 1991 “The 4th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition”, University of Hawaii, Manoa Art Gallery, Honolulu, Hawaii

  • 1991 “The Nature of Sculpture”, Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, Florida

  • 1991 “Professor’s Choice”, Lang Art Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California

  • 1990 “East Bound, West Bound”, Korean Cultural Services Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1990 “Accretions: Collage and Assemblage”, Space Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1990 “Natural Forces”, L.A Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1989 “American-Japanese Artists”, George J Doizaki Gallery, JACCC, Los Angeles, California

  • 1988 “Two Artists Exhibition (with Seiji Kunishima)”, Murazumi Gallery, Okazaki, Japan

  • 1987 “Metamorphosis Once a Tree”, Century Gallery, Sylmar, California

  • 1987 “Natural Sources”, Angeles Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, California

  • 1987 “Language of Forms/Vice of Materials”, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California

  • 1987 “Survey of Object”, Space Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1987 “Natural Elements”, Transamerica Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1986 “Only L.A. Contemporary Variations”, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1986 “Japan/America”, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California

  • 1986 “Asian/America”, Cal State University L.A Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1985 “Gallery Artists Exhibition”, James Turcotte Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1984 “Japanese Artists in L.A.”, Dejong Gallery, Los Angeles, California

  • 1983 “Drawing Exhibition”, L.A. Artcore Center, Los Angeles, California

  • 1981 “Mexico Contemporary Sculptures”, Museo de Banco National de Mexico, Mexico City

  • 1980 “Pair City”, 1st Monumental Sculpture Competition, Tokyo, Japan

  • 1980 “Biwako Open-Air Sculpture Exhibition, Shiga, Japan

  • 1979 “Japanese Artists in Mexico”, Gallery Encuentro, Mexico City, Mexico

  • 1977 “Group Exhibition”, Yokohama Municipal Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan

  • 1976 “Group Exhibition”, Minori Kogei Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 1976 “Three Men Exhibition”, Tokiwa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

  • 1975 “11th Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

  • 1975 “4th New Talent Award Exhibition”, Modern Sculpture Center, Tokyo, Japan

  • 1974-77 “Shinseisaku Art Exhibition”, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

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