MARIKO ENOMOTO

About the artist

Mariko Enomoto is a Tokyo-based painter born in 1982. After drawing from childhood and studying fashion, she taught herself to paint. Alongside solo and group exhibitions, she creates artwork for books, music, film and theater.

Her work is distinguished by figures whose faces are concealed by plants, animals or landscapes. Portraits that do not identify a single individual leave room for viewers to bring their own memories and emotions. Beginning with everyday feelings and natural scenery, she connects elements that do not coexist in reality. After working in pencil and acrylic, she has recently focused on oil portraits, also drawing on mythology, poetry and stories.

Ideas and process

In Tagboat's “How to Make” interview, Mariko Enomoto discusses her painting 『闇に備える』, completed in late 2019. Concern for children's future led her to explore, through its motifs, how to live while caring for things that are fragile.

She begins by imagining the composition and making rough sketches. Ideas can change as she paints; at the time of the interview, she mainly used acrylic gouache. This account is edited and summarized by roidworksgallery and describes the work and process discussed in that interview.

Read the artist interview and see the process ↗

Biography and selected exhibitions

• 1982Born.
• 2021Solo exhibitions モーメント at OIL by Bijutsutecho, Tokyo, and In the Woods at elephant STUDIO, Tokyo, organized by WATOWA GALLERY.
• 2022Solo exhibition わたしの庭 at Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Art Salon, Tokyo.
• 2023Solo exhibition Melancholia at elephant STUDIO, Tokyo, organized by WATOWA GALLERY. Publication of her first monograph, 空と花とメランコリー, by Geijutsu Shimbunsha.
• 2025Solo exhibition わたしをまもるもの at T&Y Projects, Tokyo.
• 2026METAMORPHOSES, a two-person exhibition with KÄSI at Kohtoh.

Book covers and artwork

• Cover artwork for Cho Nam-joo’s Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (Chikuma Shobo).
• Cover artwork for Natsuko Imamura’s The Woman in the Purple Skirt (Asahi Shimbun Publications).
• Illustrations for Mieko Kawakami’s 黄色い家, serialized in the Yomiuri Shimbun.
• MIDSUMMER ROMANCE capsule collection with INITIAL (2023).

Art book: 空と花とメランコリー

Enomoto’s first art book includes early paintings and commissioned artwork, with afterwords by Tamaki Saito, Miwa Kutsuna and Takahiro Komatsu.

Geijutsu Shinbunsha | Published November 25, 2023 | B5 format, 144 pages

Publisher’s book details and sample images ↗

With roidworksgallery

AaP/roidworksgallery presented her work at ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2024, ART OSAKA 2025 . In 2026, she participated in roidworksgallery’s group exhibition 「One FACE 2026」.

Please follow the artwork links below for current prices, availability and details.