Noriko Ambe

Noriko Ambe (*1967 in Saitama, Japan) is a Japanese artist who lives and works in New York and Saitama, Japan. She received a BFA degree in oil painting from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 1990.

During her early career, Ambe focused primarily on painting before shifting her artistic methodology to her well-known works on paper titled “Works of Linear Actions”. Her unique works are created by cutting up hundreds to thousands of sheets of paper and carefully layering them on top of each other. The results are intricate, sculptural works that evoke topographical and organic forms, creating mountainous landscapes and canyons that cannot be categorized geographically or temporally. These works transcend the visual and reveal the artist’s inner landscapes.

The act of cutting and layering serves as a continuous motif in her work and is central to her conceptual study. Through this meditative, introspective process, the artist delves into her deepest inner self and visualizes it in different physical variations, such as in the series “Wave” and “Flat Globe”. These beautifully serene formations unfold their atmospheric effect layer by layer, making the viewer feel as if they were conducting a stratigraphic investigation into the innermost depths of the human psyche, while simultaneously raising questions about the existence of humanity, nature and time.

Noriko Ambe has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions such as the Aloft At Hermès (Singapore), The FLAG Art Foundation (New York), Syracuse University Museum (Syracuse, NY) and has participated in group exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design (New York, USA), Museum Brandhorst (Munich), Manchester Art Gallery (Manchester, UK) and the Berardo Collection Museum (Lisbon, Portugal). Her works can be found in renowned collections such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.”