Shu Kubo, currently Japan’s cutting edge Kirie artist of modern art.
Born in Japan in 1951, Kubo meets Kirie during his university years studying architecture. In 1995, Kubo becomes a victim of the Kobe Earthquake. He witnesses first hand, how natural disaster could leave painful scars in people’s lives and history. Since then, he takes his theme “Japonism in paper”, throughout Japan to capture the vitality of “seasonal traditions” and “food ingredients” from the four seasons and pour them into his Kirie works. His exclusive taste for washi paper, creates fine-tuned work with his knife on one sheet. At times, creating three-dimensional depth using thin washi paper layered in volume, pulls out their original vibrant colors expressing the texture of the subject.

 

Kubo’s seasonal works garnering immense praise, leads to holding an exhibition in 2008 in New York hosted by “The Nippon Club” receiving sensational response. Appointment of “Special Advisor for Cultural Exchange Agency” by Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan in 2009. His gateway to overseas widens to USA, Spain, Portugal, the Philippines, Malaysia, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Turkey, Georgia, and China, holding exhibitions from 2010 onwards, along with cultural exchange through workshops and lectures.Other works include New Year Greeting post cards and postage stamps for Japan Post, and product package designs.