Misato Kurimune

Misato Kurimune (born 1988) is a Japanese contemporary artist based in Hyōgo Prefecture. Her practice began with mixed-media works applied over her own photographic prints and has expanded to include lenticular and UV printing and images generated by artificial intelligence, addressing the ambiguity of visual information and the relationship between perception and reality. She received the Sankei Shimbun Prize at Kyoto Art for Tomorrow 2021.

Early life and education Kurimune was born in 1988 in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture.

While a student she was awarded a Museum Acquisition Prize at the 35th National University Print Exhibition (2010) and again at the 36th edition (2011); both prize-winning works were acquired by the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts.

Career Kurimune held her first solo exhibition, "Complex / Crushed / Condolence", at Tezukayama Gallery in Osaka in 2013; the same year she was profiled by her home prefecture's newspaper, Kobe Shimbun. Between 2014 and 2017 she presented further solo exhibitions in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Kobe, including "Flash ⇆ Infinity" at eN arts in Kyoto (2015) and "From Subcutaneous Radicalism to a Return to Reason" (皮下の過激から理性への回帰) at Tezukayama Gallery (2016).

In 2016 she was interviewed by the Japanese print magazine Hanga Geijutsu (Print Art) for a feature on digital printmaking. Her 2018 solo exhibition "Still Remained" at Tezukayama Gallery presented more than sixty works, including her first video piece, Memorise; it was reviewed in The Japan Times.

In 2021 Kurimune participated in the group exhibition "Kyoto Art for Tomorrow 2021 – Kyoto Prefecture Young Artists Exhibition" at Kyoto Bunpaku (The Museum of Kyoto), where her work You may be in this world. Or you may not be. received the Sankei Shimbun Prize. A solo exhibition of the same title was held at Tezukayama Gallery later that year.

In 2024 Kurimune took part in the group exhibition "Interactions", curated by the photographer Tomoko Sawada at Laugh & Peace Art Gallery in Osaka, alongside Sawada and Ayano Sudo; she was interviewed for the exhibition by FANY Magazine. In 2025 she was included in "Kansai Art Annual 2025 'CO'" at Shinsaibashi PARCO in Osaka and in the group exhibition "間 ま MA" at Aki Gallery in Taipei, presenting lenticular works whose imagery shifts with the viewer's angle.

In 2026 Kurimune held the solo exhibition "What are we really looking at?" at Tezukayama Gallery, her first solo show at the gallery in about five years; it was reviewed by Bijutsu Techo and covered by ART iT.

Work Kurimune's early works used monochrome photographs she had taken herself, printed onto fabric and other supports, over which she applied materials such as foundation makeup and silver leaf in a mixed-media approach.

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2013 – Complex / Crushed / Condolence, Tezukayama Gallery, Osaka

Group exhibitions and art fairs (selection)

2011 – ART TORONTO, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Canada 2025 – RITUALS – International Group Exhibition, Millepiani, Rome