Ai☆Madonna – Artist CV (English)

 
 
☆Profile☆

1984　Born in Tokyo
2003　Graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Senior High School of Fine Arts,
      Performing Arts and Classical Music / Department of Art,Design Course
2004　Graduated from Bigakko / AIDA Makoto’s Barabara Art Class
2007　Became active as AI☆MADONNA
2012　Established a company “AI☆MADONNA Production”
 
 
☆Artist Biography☆

Ai☆Madonna｜Artist Introduction & Creative World

Ai☆Madonna is a contemporary artist based in Tokyo, born in 1984. After graduating from the Tokyo Metropolitan Senior High School of Arts in 2003, she studied in Bigakko“Barabara Art Class,” an experimental program led by renowned artist Makoto Aida, where she honed her distinctive sensibility and expressive techniques. In 2007, she began performing live paintings under the name “Ai☆Madonna.” Since then, her creative practice has expanded across multiple disciplines, including solo exhibitions, manga, and collaborations with musicians and Japanese idols. In 2019, she published her first manga, HAKUA (Stoke Inc.), marking her entry into the world of narrative-based multimedia art.

Ai☆Madonna’s inspiration stems from a deeply personal and formative sense of longing. As a child, she experienced an ambiguous but powerful fascination with the female body—feelings that evolved during adolescence into a symbolic fixation on the figure of the “bishōjo” (a Japanese cultural term meaning “beautiful girl,” often used to represent idealized femininity in manga and anime). In her work, the bishōjo is not simply a stylized character or icon, but a vessel of memory, emotion, and desire—at once vulnerable, mysterious, and alive. These girls appear on canvas not as passive objects, but as intimate, spiritual presences that mirror the artist’s inner world.

Rather than critique the objectification of women through destruction or satire, Ai☆Madonna takes a subtler, introspective approach. She deconstructs elements like color, line, and form, then reconstructs them into new visual expressions of the bishōjo. This process does not aim to reject the cultural image of the girl, but to reimagine and re-spiritualize it—transforming the bishōjo into a symbol of healing, affirmation, and quiet resilience.

Her practice is deeply influenced by the lineage of bishōjo figures in Japanese visual culture, from early manga pioneers such as Osamu Tezuka and Hideo Azuma to the emotionally enigmatic heroines of 1990s anime, especially Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Yet, unlike the often hollow or remote girls portrayed in mainstream media, Ai☆Madonna’s subjects pulse with pain, warmth, and life. They are not flat symbols, but layered beings imbued with personal meaning.

A notable motif in her paintings is the depiction of girls without underwear—an image that defies erotic conventions. Rather than titillation, these figures convey a sense of naturalness and freedom, liberated from shame or societal constraint. Through these portrayals, she explores a quiet rebellion against conventional notions of femininity, gently subverting expectations without relying on aggression or spectacle.

Above all, Ai☆Madonna’s art is about reverence—not in the religious sense, but as an act of personal belief. She views the bishōjo as a modern-day icon, one through which she can channel lost feelings of faith, intimacy, and hope. Her works speak to a desire to recover the sacred in the everyday, infusing the popular symbol of the girl with emotional depth and warmth.

In experiencing her art, viewers are drawn into a space of subtle transformation. There is no loud declaration, no overt message—only the quiet, persistent glow of something being reborn. Ai☆Madonna’s girls emerge from the canvas like distant memories returning with new clarity, offering comfort, wonder, and a sense of renewal to those who encounter them.
 
 
☆Selected Solo Exhibitions☆

2009　Kyupin (Mizuma Action / Tokyo)
2009　Kajitsu (Fruit) (antique studio MINORU / Tokyo)
2010　Sekirara Bishoujo Sekiran’un (galaxxxy / Tokyo)
2011　Ai☆Madonna Trick Art on the 9th Floor (BT gallery / Tokyo)
2012　Hatsumoe – Ai and the Dragon(DIGINNER GALLERY WORKSHOP / Tokyo)
2014　It’s Not My Fault I Look Pale (Pixiv Zingaro / Tokyo)
2014　Happy Yellow… (Village Vanguard Shibuya Udagawa / Tokyo)
2017　Ambiguous U, Trendy Love (AWAJI Cafe and Gallery / Tokyo)
2017　Clear Skies and Genius (WALL Harajuku / Tokyo)
2019　Trash or Treasure? (Village Vanguard Shibuya Main Store / Tokyo)
2023　THE TAME DOG and THE HARE (GR Gallery / New York)
2024　I Am Not Saying: -Give Me Money Because You Feel Sorry For Me.(GR Gallery / New York)
2025　「Star’s Eye」(Takeda Art Co./Tokyo)
 
 
☆Selected Group Exhibitions & Events☆

2004　Departure – Barabara Art Class 3rd Year Exhibition (Yokohama)
2004　KOTATSU-SCHOOL 2 (Mizuma Art Gallery / Tokyo)
2004　Les métamorphoses du quotidien(The Metamorphoses of Daily Life) (The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma)
2005　Nishiogi Biennale (at Makoto Aida’s Residence / Tokyo)
2005　Since 1994 – Mizuma Art Gallery 10th Anniversary Exhibition(Mizuma Art Gallery / Tokyo)
2005　Pre-Bad Luck of Love – Ai-chan Bonsai (Mizuma Art Gallery / Tokyo)
2005　Spring Special Open House – Ai-chan Bonsai(Yurinso, Ohara Museum of Art / Okayama)
2007　Art de Soro – Ai-chan Bonsai (Ueno Royal Museum / Tokyo)
2007　JAPAN WEEK 2007 in Warsaw (Poland)
2008　Tokidoki (From Time to Time) (Turner Gallery / Tokyo)
2008　Tokyo Nonsense (SCION Space / Los Angeles)
2008　Chasing Cobalt Blue (ZENSHI / Tokyo)
2008　Zenin-Ten (Everyone Exhibition) (MAGICROOM? / Tokyo)
2009　Eyes & Curiosity Vol.5 (Soka Art Center / Taipei)
2009　Current Events (Turner Gallery / Tokyo)
2009　Heroes (Turner Gallery / Tokyo)
2009　Beppu Contemporary Art Festival – Mixed Bathing World(Waku-Waku Mixed Bathing Apartment / Oita)
2010　Eyes & Curiosity Vol.6 (Mizuma Art Gallery / Tokyo)
2010　Entrance Fee – Drawings by Emerging Artists(Art Market WHOLE / Tokyo)
2010　New World (island / Chiba)
2010　Just a Little – I Like You Too – Two-person show with Odayaka (TANA_Gallery / Tokyo)
2010　Neo Cos Exhibition (MIG × WALL / Tokyo, Fukuoka)
2010　Little Love (antique studio MINORU / Tokyo)
2011　SPINCOLLECTIF TOKYO × FLYING SAUCER ATTACK(DIGINNER GALLERY WORKSHOP / Tokyo)
2011　Nationwide Art Souvenir Exhibition!! (NADiff Gallery / Tokyo)
2011　Exciting Shibuya (Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya / Tokyo)
2011　Character Party feat. Neo Cos(Daimaru Shinsaibashi North Wing / Osaka)
2013　Circulation (Fundokin Mansion / Oita)
2013　HELLO, SHIBUYA TOKYO (Singapore)
2014　IMPACTS! (Zane Bennett Contemporary Art / Santa Fe)
2015　CREATORS TOKYO (Spiral / Tokyo)
2015　JAPAN EXPO (Paris, France)
2015　SHIBUKARU MATSURI goes to BANGKOK (Bangkok, Thailand)
2015　Love Becomes Blood and Scent – Two-person show with Nukeme (PARCO GALLERY X / Tokyo)
2016　Kumano Fude × Ai☆Madonna (OPAQUE OSAKA / Osaka)
2017　Risa Aizawa Realm – Café Ten (AWAJI Cafe & Gallery / Tokyo)
2018　SHIBUKARU MATSURI BY PARCO – Shibuya Culture Festival(PMQ / Hong Kong)
2019　Eyes & Curiosity – Flowers in the Field(Mizuma Gallery / Singapore)
2019　Hakuaten (3331 Arts Chiyoda / Tokyo)
2019　Kizuna AI & YuNi × CREATORS by STORES(WHITE GALLERY, produced by STORES.jp)
2019　24th NHK Heart Exhibition
      Organized by: NHK, NHK Welfare Organization, NHK Service Center, Japan National Council of Social Welfare
      Supported by: Cabinet Office of Japan
      In collaboration with: Oji Paper Co., Art Village, NHK Publishing(Touring 10 venues across Japan)
2020　Complicated Relationships – Two-person show with BIRDMAN(BLOCK HOUSE / Tokyo)
2020　RISO IS IT (OIL by Bijutsutecho / Tokyo)
2021　Shibuya Art Tori-no-Ichi (OIL by Bijutsutecho / Tokyo)
2021　SAGA Sunrise Project (Yamashita PMC × Saga Prefecture / Saga City)
2021　Aki Uchiyama Original Drawing Exhibition(Gallery Sabou “Tsubaki” / Tokyo)
2024　A Fixed-Point Observation from Two Billion Light-Years Away（Tang Contemporary Art／Hong Kong）