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.
Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna, Italy (Scholarship from the Italian Government)
Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan
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
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
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
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)
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
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
(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