INFO
| Name | Claudia Kogachi (she/her) |
| Born | 1995 |
| Country of Birth | Japan |
| Place of Residence | Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland |
| Ethnicities | Japanese, Okinawan, Pākehā |
| Dealer Gallery | Jhana Millers Gallery, Phillida Reid Gallery |
| Artform | Visual arts |
| Decades Active | 2010s, 2020s |
ABOUT
Claudia Kogachi is a contemporary artist known for her lively, often oversized, paintings and hand-tufted rugs. Blending biographical details with fiction and fantasy, Kogachi inserts herself, friends and family members into scenes from movies and imagined situations, allowing her to negotiate the dynamics of real relationships through her fictional artworks.
Kogachi’s artworks are bright and humorous and zoom in on the details of our flawed emotions and experiences of being human — whether it’s being annoyed or smitten by a new love, having a competitive streak, or having IBS. Her mother, obaachan (grandmother) and jiichan (grandfather) have all featured in different series. Sometimes these have been loving odes: her Uncle Gagi’s board shorts, tropical shirts and other garments recreated as tapestries, and paintings of her obaachan moving around the kitchen, making musubi and galbi. Other works have ratcheted up family frictions: a series called Mom, are we friends? depicts her and her mother sparring, racing and locked in mind games.
For some of her recent works, Kogachi has collaborated with her partner, woodworker Josephine Jelicich, who has created custom frames for Kogachi’s artworks.
Kogachi was born in Awaji-Shima, Japan, but has spent a lot of time in Hawai’i, where her mother’s family live (having migrated in the early 1900s to work on pineapple plantations). She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Hawai’i and an Honours degree from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.
LINKS
Key works / presentations
2024 — Labour of Love, Condo London, London, presented by Phillida Reid
2023 — SWEET, SWEET FANTASY BABY, Aotearoa Art Fair, with Jhana Millers Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau
2023 — Exit 8, Aupuni Space, Honolulu
2021 — The Path, Hastings City Art Gallery, Heretaunga
2021 — When the dust settles, Artspace Aotearoa, Tāmaki Makaurau
2021 — There's No I In Team, The Dowse Art Museum, Te Awakairangi ki Tai
2020 — Obaachan During the Lockdown, Wahiawa Hawai'i, Te Tuhi, Tāmaki Makaurau
2020 — The New Artist Show, Artspace Aotearoa, Tāmaki Makaurau
2020 — The Medium is the Message, Gus Fisher Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau
2019 — Beijing International Art Biennale, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
Key awards
2022 — KareKare House Artist residency
2022 — Debra Porch Award and residency with Artspace Aotearoa and the Australian Arts Council
2019 — Supreme Winner, New Zealand Painting & Printmaking Award