Utami Hiten

Utami Hiten completed Master of Fine Art at Kyushu Industrial University of Art in 1983 and was teaching as a Junior high school Art instructor from 1887 to 2012, and now lives and works in Japan. In November, Utami will be working at Bamboo Curtain Studio for one month and present her works in Winter Open Studio.

During her residency, Utami is going to have a joint project “Make A Big Ear For Oneself” with people or students. This project is intended to listen to inside voices that people hesitate to say out loud ideas of, discomfort, irritation, loneliness, anxiety, cruelty, sadness, preciousness, affection, desire, anger, and so on. By painting these feelings on canvases in the shape of an ear we can deepen our understanding of each other.

The idea of an ear shaped canvas comes from Utami’s notion that people who have trouble communicating should have ears like an elephant to pick up every word in order to avoid distrust and misunderstanding.