「いざ行かん 雪見にころぶ 所まで。

 （Ready and waiting. Fear not the deep snowy road for a yearning sight.） 」 - Matsuo Basho, Japanese Haiku Master

Iida Kiriko is a well-renowned contemporary artist from Japan who is immensely popular in Asia. Defined by a serene and elegant beauty, her character portraits and mysterious scenery of the snowy country have left a lasting impression, evoking fervor among art circles with every visit to Taiwan. Having graduated from Hokkaido College of Art & Design, Iida has won numerous awards from art societies in Japan, and was nominated by the Shell Artist Award for two consecutive years. With flairs of nostalgia and fantasy, her artworks have shone at many famous international art exhibitions including, Art Basel Hong Kong, Taipei Dangdai, and Art Fair Tokyo, where they have attracted numerous businessmen and designers seeking to collect them.

Frozen soil invokes a feeling of isolation characterized by coldness, remoteness, and lifelessness. However, under the penmanship of Iida Kiriko, the snowy scenery of Hokkaido becomes a field to realize Yugen (mysterious), a Japanese aesthetic that emphasizes simplistic and implicit beauty as well as allows imaginations to roam free. Iida is dedicated to depicting her snowy homeland in which she was born and raised. With elegant and gentle strokes, she creates profound and nuanced feelings of tranquility in her paintings. Iida's paintings consist of clean images and abstruse characters. She candidly injects the wintry element of "snow-fall, paleness, aloofness, and serenity,” into her works, creating a fairytale world inspiring boundless imaginations that people "simply can't get enough of."

On the frozen land buried in pale snow, there is a dense and dark forest. From afar, it appears to be an island sitting amidst a pale open water, mysterious yet dangerous, dark but alluring. Filled with curiosity, a young man, woman, and girl dressed in heavy coats are filled with excitement and apprehension, ready to set out akin to the description in Matsuo Basho's haiku. Even though their cheeks had become bright red from the stung of chilling wind, they audaciously ventured onward into the fantastical journey to explore the wintery forest as they followed the crimson fruits left behind by the sparrows. With To the Winter Forest, Iida raises the curtain for the snowy fairytale she has created. She provides every clue to unfold a story, while waiting for audiences to relish and start this marvelous wintery adventure with the beautifully endearing protagonists.

After a three-year hiatus following her 2017 solo exhibition, After Images of Light, Iida will be unveiling new and amazing works at Soka Art from March 7 to April 18, 2020 at Frozen Soil- Iida Kiriko Solo Exhibition. The opening ceremony will begin on March 7(Sat.) at 4 p.m.  There, Iida will be gracing the occasion with her company to unveil the mural, 冬のはなし(The Winter Story), which she painted specially for Soka Art. Fellow adorers of Iida Kiriko absolutely must not miss out.