TOMOZAWA Kotao 友沢こたお

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TOMOZAWA Kotao

友沢こたお

1999 Born in Bordeaux, France

2022 BFA in Oil Painting Course, Tokyo University of the Arts

2024 MFA in Oil Painting Course, Tokyo University of the Arts

Kotao Tomozawa was born in 1999, in Bordeaux, France, she lived in Paris until the age of five. Tomozawa came to Japan in 2004 and is currently studying at Tokyo University of the Arts, majoring in oil painting, while also participating in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Tomozawa’s unique portraits, combining slime-like materials and organic motifs, realistically depict texture, translucency, and softness, leaving an unforgettable impact once seen. Tomozawa’s works, in which extreme cruelty is wrapped up with the utmost gentleness, have many facets like an extract of this world boiled down, but the expression itself is extremely simple.

In 2019, Tomozawa formed the art unit "Tororoen" with her own mother, Mimiyo Tomozawa. In the same year, she won the Kume Keiichiro Prize, and in 2020, she was selected for the Art Plaza Grand Prize at the University of the Arts. Major exhibitions include "caché" (Hankyu Men's Tokyo tagboat) and "Tagboat Artshow" (Hankyu Men's Tokyo) in 2021, "remix" (3331artschiyoda) and "Pomme d'amour" (3331artschiyoda) in 2020. Pomme d'amour" (mograg gallery), "MIND THE GAP" (THE blank GALLERY).

Solo Exhibition

2024

"Fragment" (Gallery & Bakery Tokyo 8min / Tokyo)

"Réflexion" (N&A Art SITE / Tokyo)

2023

"SLIME" (The Landmark / Hong Kong)

2022

"INSPIRER" (Tokyo International Gallery / Tokyo)

"SPIRALE" (PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO / Tokyo)

"Monochrome" (FORM CONTEMPORARY / Tokyo)

2021

"caché" (tagboat / Tokyo)

2020

"Pomme dʼamour" (mograg gallery / 東京)

Group Exhibition

2025

"WAVE2025" (Lurf MUSEUM / Tokyo)

2024

A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection (MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART TOKYO / Tokyo)

faces "GALLERY CURU / Bangkok, Thailand)

2023

Synergies, or between creation and generation (MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART TOKYO / Tokyo)

"CONCERTO" (Lurf MUSEUM / Tokyo)

Kotao Tomozawa Collection Exhibition “Moment” (SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo)

2021

"Everything but…" (Tokyo International Gallery / Tokyo)

"nine colors XV" (SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo)

"KITO Kento × USUKUBO Kaoru recommended artists exhibition" (SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo)

"Face to face" (Bunkamura Box Gallery / Tokyo)

"JAPAN WAVE" (Japan house LA, Japan house Sao Paulo)

"WAVE2021" (3331artschiyoda / Tokyo)

"SCOPE MIAMI BEACH 2021" (Miami Beach / USA)

2020

“remix” (3331artschiyoda / Tokyo)
“Shibuya Style” (SEIBU SHIBUYA / Tokyo)
“WAVE2020” (3331artschiyoda / Tokyo)
“MIND THE GAP” (THE Blank GALLERY / Tokyo)
“Mocozo × Art Exhibition” (Pearl Bookshop & Gallery / Tokyo)
“silence” (Meguro Museum of Art Kumin Gallery / Tokyo)
“Paper Insect Collection Exhibition” (billiken gallery / Tokyo)
“Axe Cover Exhibition” (billiken gallery / Tokyo)
“tororoen II” (trance pop gallery / Tokyo)
“Geidai Art Plaza Grand Prize 2020” (geidai art plaza / Tokyo)