Shinji Turner-Yamamoto is a Japanese born U.S.-based artist known for paintings, sculptures, and installations employing elemental materials such as trees, fossils, and minerals, creating profound viewer connections with nature. He works with identifiable imagery to encourage humanity to encounter the essential in nature and time in new and unexpected ways.

His current project Environmental Melancholia (a term pioneered by psychologist Renee Lertzman), focuses on industrial wastes and Midwest fossil elements, and is supported by KOHLER Arts/Industry Program Pottery Residency. His ongoing sculptural project Pentimenti (2010—) employs historic and natural elements as meditations on the universe. Additional projects include Sidereal Silence and the Quintessence series, began in 2012 and inspired by waterfalls encountered in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. The Global Tree Project (2000—) focuses on tree imagery and site-specificity. Shinji Turner-Yamamoto: Global Tree Project (DAMIANI, 2012), documents 11 projects worldwide realized in a ruined folly on a cliff overlooking the Celtic Sea, an 8th century Kiyomizu Temple Sutra Hall, a garden in New Delhi, the Mongolian Gobi Desert, and abandoned architectural landmarks in the American Midwest. Recent commissions include Global Tree Project: AXIS MUNDI for Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland, and Global Tree Project: ISTANBUL, an installation for the historic ruin of an abandoned Jewish orphanage, Istanbul, Turkey.

Turner-Yamamoto studied at Kyoto City University of Arts, and, sponsored by the Italian government, at Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna. His work has been the subject of solo shows at Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA; SAPAR CONTEMPORARY Gallery+Incubator, New York, NY, USA; the Ippaku-tei Teahouse, Embassy of Japan + Shigeko Bork MU Project, Washington, DC, USA. Site-specific installations include Palazzo Ducale, ASIART Asian Contemporary Art: Biennale d'Arte Contemporanea, Genoa, Italy; Saigyo-an Teahouse, Kyoto Art Walk, Kyoto, Japan; Gobi desert, Mongolia, MONGOLIA 360°; International Land Art Biennial; Deconsecrated Holy Cross Church, Cincinnati, OH, USA; SiTE:LAB at an abandoned industrial building, Grand Rapids, MI, USA which received the ArtPrize International Juried Award.

His grants include the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts through the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center, the KOHLER Arts/Industry Program Foundry and Pottery Residency, Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation, the Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation, and support from Antioch College’s faculties of Ecology, Anthropology, Geology, Glen Helen Ecology Institute, TOYOTA, Cill Rialaig Project, SiTE:Lab, Pépinières Européennes pour Jeunes Artistes, and UNESCO-ASCHBERG Bursaries for Artists. His work is included in the collections of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art; Cincinnati Art Museum; LUIGI PECCI Contemporary Art Museum, Prato, Italy; Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar; Pro Artibus Foundation, Ekenäs, Finland; Sanskriti Foundation, New Delhi; Targetti Light Art Collection, Firenze, Italy; Keuruun Museo, Keuruu, Finland; Columbia University, New York; CAPP Collection of Contemporary Art, University of Maryland, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities; John Michael Kohler Arts Center + Kohler Co. Collection. He lives and works in Cincinnati, OH, USA.

 

EDUCATION

Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna, Italy (Scholarship from the Italian Government)

Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan



CURRENT/RECENT

2024

The Secret of Muddy Water, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA

2024-22

Gilded: Contemporary Artists Explore Value and Worth, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC | Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN | Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

2023

Shift: Adapting with Change and Resilience, Denison Museum, Denison University, Granville, OH, USA

Abu Dhabi Art Fair | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates



SOLO EXHIBITIONS / PROJECTS+

2024-25

WUNDERKAMMER: 4.5678 BILLION YEARS  T.B.D.

2021-

Environmental Melancholia  (ceramic project) | supporters to date: KOHLER Arts/Industry Pottery Residency Program

2019

Microcosm and Macrocosm, SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, New York, NY, USA

2018

Pentimenti  (foundry project) | supported by KOHLER Arts/Industry Foundry Residency Program

Global Tree Project: LIGHTNING / AXIS MUNDI  (ongoing photography project) | supporters to date: Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest

2017

SUBSTANCE AND INCREASE: Shinji Turner-Yamamoto + Gabriela Albergaria, SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, New York, NY, USA

2016

SIDEREAL SILENCE: Chalybeate  (an interdisciplinary collaborative project with the faculties of Ecology, Anthropology, Ecopsychology, Geology, Fine Arts, and Global Seminar), Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH, USA

DE RERUM NATURA: On the Nature of Things, Herndon Gallery - Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH, USA

Global Tree Project: ISTANBUL, Historic ruin of the abandoned Yahudi Yetimhanesi (Jewish Orphanage), Ortaköy, Istanbul, Turkey

SIDEREAL SILENCE, Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery / Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, OH, USA

2015

Global Tree Project: AXIS MUNDI, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland

2013

DE RERUM NATURA: On the Nature of Things, Phyllis Weston Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, USA

2012

SIDEREAL SILENCE: Study, Abandoned Grand Rapids Public Museum Rocks and Minerals - Geology Gallery / SiTE:LAB, Grand Rapids, MI, USA

2011

DISAPPEARANCES: An Etenal Journey, Abandoned Industrial Building / SiTE:LAB + University of Michigan School of Art & Design, Grand Rapids, MI, USA

2010

Global Tree Project: HANGING GARDEN, Deconsecrated Holy Cross Church (National Register of Historic Places), Cincinnati, OH, USA

DISAPPEARANCES, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Global Tree Project: TWINNED CONSTELLATION / STAR NEST, Gobi desert, Mongolia - MONGOLIA 360°, International Land Art Biennial

2008-09

Global Tree Project: SLEEPING TREE, Greater Reston Arts Center / Dogwood Elementary School woodland, Reston, VA, USA

Global Tree Project: PETALS OF THE UNIVERSE, Taidetehdas/Artfactory, Porvoo, Finland

Global Tree Project: SEEDING, Arlington Arts Center / Barrett Elementary School, Arlington, VA, USA

DE RERUM NATURA: On the Nature of Things, Shigeko Bork MU Project, Washington, DC, USA

THREE WINDOWS: Sun, Moon, Stars, Ippaku-tei Teahouse, Embassy of Japan, Washington, DC, USA

2005

Global Tree Project: SLEEPING VISHNU TREE, Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan - Kyoto Art Walk

IRISH BLACK RAINBOW, Saigyo-an Teahouse, Kyoto, Japan - Kyoto Art Walk

2004

DIVERGENT GAZE OF ANGELS, Pro Artibus Foundation, Ekenäs / Folkhälsan, Helsinki, Finland

2003

Global Tree Project: SECRET GARDEN, Sanskriti Foundation, New Delhi, India

Global Tree Project: GIFT, Navdanya's Bija Vidyapeeth, Dehradun, India

PALACE OF THE WINDS, Embassy of Japan, New Delhi, India

2002

BLUE GOLD, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland

2001

PENSIERI TONDI, ArteAlta, Castelmola, Italy

2000

Global Tree Project: AQUA—Omphalos, Roches Tower, Cork, Ireland

1999

AQUA, Associazione culturale GRAFIO, Prato, Italy

AQUA: Yorishiro, Ex Fienile, Castel S. Pietro Terme - Bologna, Italy

AQUA: tobi-Ishi (Stepping-Stones), Museo d'Arte Contemporanea VILLA CROCE, Genova, Italy - ASIART Asian Contemporary Art: Biennale d'Arte Contemporanea n°1

AQUA, Palazzo Ducale / Cisterne di S. Maria di Castello, Genova, Italy - ASIART Asian Contemporary Art: Biennale d'Arte Contemporanea n°1

1998

AËR, Cubic Gallery, Osaka, Japan

1997

AËR / AQUA, Galleria Graffio + Cortile, Bologna, Italy

AQUA: Paesaggi Impermanenti, Galleria Graffio Cortile, Bologna, Italy

AQUA: paesaggi Impermanenti, Sala Silentium, Bologna, Italy



SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS+

2024

The Secret of Muddy Water, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA

2024-22

Gilded: Contemporary Artists Explore Value and Worth, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC | Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN | Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

2023

Shift: Adapting with Change and Resilience, Denison Museum, Denison University, Granville, OH, USA

Abu Dhabi Art Fair | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

2021

Seeds of Resistance, Galleries 101 & 102, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

Cultural Ecologies of Asia, Dallas Art Fair Projects, Dallas, TX, USA

2020

ArtSummit 2020, Courtyard Hiroo, Tokyo, Japan

SHINJI TURNER-YAMAMOTO + ERIC BOURRET Gallery 81435 | Telluride Arts, Telluride, CO, USA

2019

Striking Gold, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, USA

DALLAS ART FAIR | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Dallas, TX, USA

Share the Unprivate Collection, Courtyard Hiroo, Tokyo, Japan

2018

UNTITLED Miami Beach | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Miami Beach, FL, USA

The Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant Recipients, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA, USA

DALLAS ART FAIR | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Dallas, TX, USA

2017

ALCHEMY: Transformations in Gold, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA / Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, USA

VOLTA 13 BASEL | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Basel. Switzerland

DALLAS ART FAIR | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Dallas, TX, USA

2016

START ART FAIR | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, London, UK

SEATTLE ART FAIR | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Seattle, WA, USA

DALLAS ART FAIR | SAPAR CONTEMPORARY, Dallas, TX, USA

2015

ABOUT TREES, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland

2014

FRESH AIR, Ascent Private Capital Management - US Bank, Cincinnati, OH, USA | curation: Elizabeth Leach Gallery

40 FOR 40, Greater Reston Arts Center, Reston, VA, USA

ALCHEMICAL VESSELS, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington, DC, USA

2013

TARGETTI LIGHT ART COLLECTION, Semiottagono delle Murate, Firenze, Italy

NARROW ROAD TO THE INTERIOR: Contemporary Japanese Artists, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

2010

MONGOLIA 360°, Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

2009

AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY, USA

Washington Project for the Arts, Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC, USA

2008

FLUIDITY: Asian American Artists, Montpelier Arts Center, MD, USA

2007

MEDITATION ROOMS, Shigeko Bork MU Project/Transformer, Washington, DC, USA

2006

FRESH PAINT: Process and Possibility, Arlington Arts Center, VA, USA

TARGETTI LIGHT ART COLLECTION, MUAR, Moscow, Russia

2005

KYOTO ART WALK: Conserved Space and Contemporary Art, Kyoto, Japan

MEHR LICHT, MAK, Wien, Austria

2004

S.O.B.2, A.O.C.F.58, Roma, Italy

2003

TARGETTI LIGHT ART COLLECTION, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY, USA / Armani-Teatro di Tadao Ando, Milano, Italy

OPEN HOUSE, Sanskriti Foundation, New Delhi, India

2002

TARGETTI LIGHT ART COLLECTION, Centre of Contemporary Art Ujazdowki Castle, Warszawa, Poland / Arte Giani, Frankfurt, Germany / Maerz Galerie, Leipzig, Germany / Light+Building, Frankfurt / Galleria Marella, Milano / Via Borgognona, Roma / Arte Fiera, Bologna

2001

European Forum for Emerging Creation, Les Subsistances, Lyon, France

2000

Pépinières Européennes pour Jeunes Artistes, Roches Point Lighthouse, Cork, Ireland

DIE BLAUE BEGEISTERUNG: 34 Junge Italienische Künstler, Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin, Germany

ALTRI LUOGHI, ex dormitorio delle FFSS, Bologna, Italy

ARTE VISIVE 3: Occhio in Ascolto, Palazzo Ducale, Genova, Italy

1999

FRINGE Festival, Stazione Leopolda, Firenze, Italy

1997

ASIART Asian Contemporary Art: Biennale d'Arte Contemporanea n°0 - L'incontro con l'Occidente, Palazzina S. Desiderio, Porto Antico, Genova, Italy

ELISIONI 1997: Ex Voto, Galleria SanLuca, Bologna / Chiesa del Pio Suffragio, Tempio dei Caduti, Fusignano, Ravenna, Italy



CURATORIAL

2005

KYOTO ART WALK, Nijo Castle/ Kiyomizu Temple/ Kodai Temple/ Saigyo-an Teahouse, Kyoto, Japan (artists: Wolfgang Laib, Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen, Hans Christian Berg, Monika Kulicka, Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand, Yuko Shiraishi, Shinji Turner-Yamamoto)



GRANTS / AWARDS

2022

Arts/Industry Pottery Residency Program, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA

2018

Arts/Industry Foundry Residency Program, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA

Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest - Invitational Artist-in-Residence - Clermont, KY, USA

2017

Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant / Provincetown Art Association and Museum

2016

Antioch College - Invitational Artist-in-Residence, Yellow Springs, OH, USA

2015

Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation Grant

Cill Rialaig Project, Kerry, Ireland

U. S. National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC, USA - through Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery / Aronoff Center for the Arts

2011

ArtPrize International Juried Award – juror: Nuit Banai

Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest - Invitational Artist-in-Residence - Clermont, KY, USA

Gold Leaf Award - For Outstanding Landscape Beautification Activities, International Society of Arboriculture

2010

Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Schlachter Family Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Vista Foundation

2008-09

Project Support Grant - through Greater Reston Arts Center, Arts Council of Fairfax County, VA, USA

Porvoo A-i-R ry/rf - Taidetehdas/Artfactory, Porvoo, Finland

2007-08

Arlington Commission for the Arts, VA, USA

Cill Rialaig Project, Kerry, Ireland

2004

Cill Rialaig Project, Kerry, Ireland

Pro Artibus Foundation, Ekenäs, Finland

2002-03

Fundación Valparaíso, Almería, Spain

UNESCO-ASCHBERG Bursaries for Artists | Sanskriti Foundation, Paris, France

2001

Associazione Culturale ARTEALTA, Castelmola, ME, Italy

2000

Pépinières Européennes pour Jeunes Artistes, Marly-le-Roi, France

International Targetti Light Art Prize; awarded the 1st prize

1992

Scholarship from the Italian Government – Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna, Italy



LECTURES / WORKSHOPS

2022

Artists Panel Discussion: GILDED, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC, USA

2018

John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA

Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA

2016

Global Seminar, Herndon Gallery, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH, USA

Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery / Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, OH, USA

2015

Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland

2012

Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH, USA

2010-11

Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest, Clermont, KY, USA

Global Tree Project: HANGING GARDEN, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

SYMPOSIUM, MONGOLIA 360°, International Land Art Biennial, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

2009

Pecha Kucha Night #6 - raising global awareness, Resources and Conservation Center, Washington, DC, USA

2008

Ippaku-tei Teahouse, Embassy of Japan, Washington, DC, USA

Pecha Kucha Night #4 - going green, Lofts 11, Washington, DC, USA

Taidetehdas/Artfactory, Porvoo, Finland

2007-08

Global Tree Project: SEEDING, Barrett Elementary School / Arlington Arts Center, VA, USA

2005

Japanese painting conservation/restoration studio, Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan

2004

Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland

Västra Nylands Folkhögskola, Karis, Finland



COLLECTIONS / COMMISSIONS

(commission) Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery / Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, OH, USA

(commission) Arlington Commission for the Arts, VA, USA

ArteAlta, Castelmola, ME, Italy

(commission) Art in Embassies Program, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy Tokyo - Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, Tokyo, Japan

(commission) Beşiktaş Municipality, Beşiktaş International Garden & Flower Festival, Istanbul, Turkey

Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Comune di Castel San Pietro Terme, Bologna, Italy

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC, USA

(commission) Embassy of Japan, Washington, DC, USA

(commission) Greater Reston Arts Center, Reston, VA, USA

John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection, Sheboygan, WI, USA

Keuruun Museo, Keuruu, Finland

Kohler Co. Collection, Kohler, WI, USA

LUIGI PECCI Contemporary Art Museum, Prato, Italy

Lynne Cheney Collection

Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Pro Artibus Foundation, Ekenäs, Finland

Ross, Sinclaire & Associates, LLC, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Sanskriti Foundation, New Delhi, India

Sara M. & Michelle Vance Waddell, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

Shigeko Bork, Washington, DC, USA

(commission+collection) Targetti Light Art Collection, Firenze, Italy

CAPP Collection of Contemporary Art, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

(commission+collection) Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC, USA

(commission) Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland



BIBLIOGRAPHY >>