Mr. Kiji was born on the Island of Kyushu in the town of Beppu, Japan and raised in New York City. Kiji’s formal art education began with an apprenticeship in Tibetan Buddhist Thangka painting.
In 2003, he graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Industrial Design. After several years working at various creative studios as a designer, Kiji now focuses on drawing professionally though a variety of commercial illustration and graphic art projects.
Mr. Kiji has produced works for Ace Hotels New York, AOL, Bloomberg View, Business Week, Bonfire Snowboarding, Converse, HTC, MTV, Niche Media, Nike, NBC/Universal, New York Times, The New Yorker, The Onion, MIT’s Technology Review,Transworld Skateboarding, Sears, Sprint ,and USA Networks.
Mr. Kiji’s solo exhibition is “Annoyed Grunt” currently at the Compound Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Annoyed Grunt is an assemblage of digital observations, daydreams, portraits, and studies. The animations and artworks in this exhibition range from elements of the absurd and surreal to the mundane.
Annoyed Grunt is a unique opportunity to explore unexpected art that is manifested between the daily grind of commercial illustration and personal expression. This is the first and only exhibition of 63 unique prints produced specifically for this exhibition. A limited run catalog, t-shirt, buttons, and posters are available for sale. Annoyed Grunt runs through October 28, 2012.
Past Exhibitions
Solo
2012 Omnibus, Max Fish, New York, NY
2006 Invisible Empires, LES Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Group
2012 Still Here Now, MOHS Exhibit, Copenhagen, DK
2011 Home for the Holidays, Klughaus Gallery, New York NY
Spectrum, Mallick Williams Gallery, New York, NY
2010 16th Annual ARTWALK NY, Skylight Studios, New York, NY
Quannum Spectrum, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Gallery 51, MA.
Electric Windows 2010, Openspace, Beacon, NY
Small Favors,> Giant Robot, New York, NY
2009 Grand Champions Forever and Ever, Factory Fresh, Brooklyn NY
Be Here Now, Canvas LA, Los Angeles, CA
Collage, Openspace, Beacon, NY
2008 Tote/Bag, Openspace, Beacon, NY
Electric Windows 2008, Openspace, Beacon, NY
14th Annual ARTWALK NY: A Tribute to Robert Rauschenberg, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY
2007 Hat Trick*, Iced Media, New York NY
Graffiti Gone Global: GinzaTropicalia, Art Basel Miami FL
2003 Skate, Industrial Design Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, RI
Graffiti Vs. Photography, Red Eye Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, RI
