ZHONG CHENG

Etsu Egami, born in Chiba, Japan in 1994, graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Fine Arts at the Central Academy in 2016. Growing up in Japan, she also had experiences living in the United States and Europe before eventually settling in Beijing, China, where she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Due to her experiences of living in different countries and encountering different languages and cultures during her upbringing, Etsu Egami often felt the barriers to communication and developed a deep interest in language exchange.

Her paintings are characterized by rich colors and direct compositions, presenting a series of portrait works with simple and transparent brushstrokes. They are dreamlike and often encompass different and overlapping forms. In the early stages of her artistic development, her works included a variety of media, such as sound, video, and painting, exploring the human instincts and the authenticity of communication.

Etsu Egami has received several awards, including the 2020 Outstanding Artist award from the Japan Ministry of Culture and the 16th Chiba City Art and Culture Newcomer Award in 2018. She was also a finalist for the Tokyo Contemporary Art Foundation Award (2020) and the Sovereign Asian Art Prize (2019). She has held exhibitions in various cities such as London, Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, and Tokyo. In 2021, she held her first solo exhibition in Taiwan, "Rainbow," to present her perspective on life.