Yoshimi OHTANI
Ms. Yoshimi OHTANI was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1980. In 2005, a great desire for creation came over her, and so she began illustrating and refined her passion, establishing a new style for her work using illustrator software. In the Spring of 2008, she asked herself "what do I want to create?" This thrust her toward focusing her craft even further and she decided to launch a website joining the words "fun-" and "-arium"... "Funarium" and she began to focus on fine art exhibitions.
"I draw my scenes with an emphasis on 'fun' while creating eye-catching girls who embody the essences of both Japanese and Western style and "Goth-Loli" fashion." OHTANI's creations combine a traditional mindset (iki) with a sense of modern Japanesque "passive demeanor" (wabi), an "elegant simplicity" (sabi), and a "classic taste" (kare). The results give fascinating characters that are a hybrid of Japanimation/manga-comics and design/artistic expression.
Today, OHTANI's works can be found in book cover designs, interiors of restaurants/bars, magazines, in video game music videos, cell phone icons and cases, and more.
Awards & Shows
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AWARDS:
- SoftBank x CREATORS BAK fanfun. Design Contest, Winning Prize, (2009)
- SIGG Bottle Design Competition, Excellent Prize, "The bottle was manufactured and released over the world.", (2008)
- DoCoMo N701i Kisekae Panel Design Competition, Excellent Prize "Style Plus Collection Series" released, (2007)
- TOKYU HANDS x Loftwork Creator New Year Card 2006 & 2007 Contest Winning Prize; the work was manufactured, (2007)
- CREATORZ Excellent Prize"HARUICHIBAN*Illustration Contest", (2007)
- Grace and Ritual, iam8bit Gallery, Los Angeles - Group Exhibition (2013 May)
- SAKURA Exhibition New York, Open-call project, (2009 May-June)
- SAKURA Exhibition New York, Open-call project in Charge of planning, operation and main visual, (2009 March-April)
- Illustration Exhibition @ Tokyo MySpace.cafe Gallery tour - Solo Exhibition (2008 September-October)
- ARTs*LABo-Wafu Genso (Japanese Fantasy) - Group Exhibition (2008 September)
- Illustration Exhibition @ NY - Solo Exhibition (2008 July-August)
EXHIBITIONS: