Erina Matsui
Erina Matsui
Born in Okayama, 1984.
For Erina Matsui, a self-portrait plays a significant role both as her communication tool and the most intimate motif to paint. Famously seen in “I Love Ebi-Chili!” (I love chili shrimps!), the gold prize winning artwork at GEISAI#6, her unforgettable “silly face” is the embodiment of desire to share various feelings and laughter with viewers through a close relation to build in the real world.
Since her debut, Matsui pushes boundaries in the expression of “self-portrait”, and the recent practice extends beyond her signature facial expression on canvas – also seen widely in a range of other series; “Recurrence to Classics” to make a connection to the western paintings inspired her to start working on oil paint in her youth with girl’s comics in a form of split frames, “Layers” to visualize emotional complexities of women living today, and “Mexican Axolotl”, a motif considered as her alter ego.
Her recent solo and group exhibitions internationally include ”Astral Dreamer” (ANOMALY, 2024), 11th Ichihara Lakeside Museum Childrenʼs Art Exhibition “Ichihara Jigazou no Kuni” (Ichihara Lakeside Museum, Chiba, 2024), “Half-Century of Cartier in Japan and Beyond: an Everlasting Dialogue of Beauty and Art” (Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 2024), “Japan and Bangladesh – A Group Art Exhibition” (Zainul Gallery, Dhaka, 2022), “Atelier de MATSUI ERINA” (GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS, Tokyo, 2021), and “Reiwa Otogi zo-shi Momotaro KAMISHI by Erina Matsui” (Okayama Prefectural Museum of art, Okayama, 2025).
Public Collection
Takamatsu Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan
Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan
Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
KOLON GROUP, South Korea
TAKAHASHI COLLECTION, Tokyo, Japan
Jean Pigozzi Collection, Switzerland
Moleskine Foundation, Milan, Italy
Exhibition