OMIYA Ellie
Photo: Junji Moroi
Ellie Omiya was born in 1975 in Osaka. She graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. After working at an advertising agency, she achieved popularity for her essays about daily life. Besides her career as a writer, she works as a radio personality as well as a host of TV programs, a screenwriter and director. From 2012, she started holding interactive solo exhibitions in which works are completed by the viewers' participation. She started to paint on the occasion of her Live Drawing ¡¶Celebration Melody: Naoshima¡· in Ueno in 2012, and continues to explore the medium of painting. She held a solo exhibition ¡¶emotional journey¡· at Daikanyama Hillside Terrace in 2015. In a solo exhibition ¡¶Sincerely Yours¡· at Towada Modern Art Center, she also exhibited in the city center arcade, which received attention.
Ellie Omiya’s work has the energy of life overflowing from the canvas and filling the space. As a creator she has various expressions, and her liberated imagination pushes the possibilities of art without constraints. Flowers, trees and different landscapes are vividly depicted through the artist’s emotion, moving the viewer into an active experience beyond the mere act of viewing. Omiya also often performs live paintings with live music. She says, 'My live drawings are stories. They continue and constantly develop.' Arising from a horizon on a canvas, they evoke tangible sensations such as the buzz of particular places; lights, sounds and scents. Because Ellie’s artwork is a direct representation of what is felt by the artist, they invite the audience to a rich world of artistic resonances.