Born in 1976, Shizuoka prefecture. Graduated from the Faculty of Art and Design, Tama Art University in 1999. Currently based in Tokyo. The works of Masui consist of delicate minute watercolor paintings based on the colors and scents of her childhood. Masui's work has been used for the cover of an Akutagawa Award novelist Kenichiro Isozaki's debut work Kanjin no Kodomo (2007, Kawade Shobo Shinsha). She was also selected by Mami Kataoka, a chief curator at the Mori Art Museum, for Younger Than Jesus: Artist Directory (2009, New Museum and Phaidon Press), which features over 500 of the best artists born after 1975 selected by international curators and critics.

"With watercolor on paper, she creates abstract landscapes that reference mythological narrative alongside traditions of pattern and decoration. Most of her compositions include a single animal moving through imaginary environments."
Mami Kataoka, "MASUI, YOSHINO" from Younger Than Jesus: Artist Directory (2009, New Museum and Phaidon Press)

Having experienced the severing of ties with the land where she was born, Masui who is often stricken with sensations of floating, talks of trying once more to connect with her birthplace through her painting. In beautiful and colorful works in which she wishes "to paint things which anyone can understand", the heart of the viewer is captured directly, recalling landscapes and sensations which appear to have been seen somewhere or felt before within memory. In this exhibition, works made since 2010 which include 4 new works will be on view.

Courtesy of Tomio Koyama Gallery