2011–2012
和-WA-
A series that fused sound, video, and painting live into an ongoing spatial performance, taking on a new theme each time. It marks the beginning of the spatial art lives that continue to this day.
Root
What is Sumism?
Everything began here. This is the “Root” of Sumism, the starting point of it all. Come and discover the life and philosophy of Artist Sumi.
Artist Sumi
Artist Sumi
- Name
- 澄-Sumi- (Sumi)
- Born
- 1971, Nagoya, Japan
- Work
- Painter / Live Art / Founder of Sumism
- Based in
- Mainly Nagoya, as well as New York and Kyoto
Career
- 1971
- Born in Nagoya, Japan
- 1990–
- Numerous group exhibitions (Japan, New York) Numerous solo exhibitions (Japan)
- 1999
- Moved to the United States
- 2000–2004
- Studied fine art under Larry Poons at the Art Students League of New York.
- 2008–
- Numerous live art performances (WA, Night Museum, and more)
- 2015–
- Sumism (launched at Gallery White Cube)
- 2022
- Opened Sumism (café gallery)
- 2023
- Launched Sumismuseum
- 2024
- Launched Sumi's children's drawing class
In recent years, her work has centered on creating an art scene filled with love. Alongside her creative practice and events, she runs a children's drawing class and a café gallery.
- 1971
- Born in Nagoya, Japan
- 1990–
- Numerous group exhibitions (Japan, New York) Numerous solo exhibitions (Japan)
- 1999
- Moved to the United States
- 2000–2004
- Studied fine art under Larry Poons at the Art Students League of New York.
- 2008–
- Numerous live art performances (WA, Night Museum, and more)
- 2015–
- Sumism (launched at Gallery White Cube)
- 2022
- Opened Sumism (café gallery)
- 2023
- Launched Sumismuseum
- 2024
- Launched Sumi's children's drawing class
In recent years, her work has centered on creating an art scene filled with love. Alongside her creative practice and events, she runs a children's drawing class and a café gallery.
Chapter 1: She Paints Anyway
This is the story of an artist who paints ♡ on ♡ with ♡
Let's take a little peek at how it all began
She was a quiet, unusual child who loved books and drawing
A quiet child, good at neither studies nor sports
Always drawing just as she pleased, she grew up without going to college or getting a job
“I'm a painter who doesn't sell”
Saying so, she kept getting by on part-time jobs
Then, at 21, she met New York
She kept running, searching for something even she couldn't name
Later she flew all over, to France, to Spain, and beyond
yet at 28, she found herself in New York again
Manhattan always
let her be comfortably alone
She painted every day without thinking
Just living took everything she had
From Manhattan to Harlem
Life on 135th Street
Seeing so many things, feeling so many things
All kinds of people were there
Larry told her not to paint ♡. She began painting without ♡
In time, she understood Larry's words. She painted without ♡
The morning of 9/11
She stood frozen in front of the TV
Calls from Japan that wouldn't stop
She painted
grateful to be alive
When she told him she was expecting, Larry said
“Your life as a painter is over, Sumi”
Still, she painted
And then
she gave birth to her greatest masterpiece
When she returned to the studio, Larry was smiling
“Welcome back, Sumi,” Larry said
On the model stand sat a pie Ecilia had baked,
wine Ellen had brought,
and gifts from everyone
And once again, she cried
She returned to Japan.
Life in Japan after so many years away.
She showed her paintings.
Between New York and Japan,
everything about how people saw art was different
What should I do?
What can I do?
She painted on all sorts of things
“Because I'm married.” “Because I have kids.” “Because work is busy.”
Don't make those excuses. That is the me I want to share with the world
And once again, she begins to paint ♡
The artist who paints ♡ on ♡ with ♡
is still using the “shape” of ♡ today to shout Love & Peace.
Chapter 2: Into Art You Can Wear
The bond between Artist Sumi and apparel
It, too, goes back to her childhood
“I've loved clothes since I was little”
The eldest of three siblings,
she grew up in a family that was far from wealthy
Sewing on patches, embroidering the things she loved
From the joy of wearing to the joy of making
The “handicrafts” she picked up while doing chores every day as a child
may have been where her interest in clothing began
“Because my paintings didn't sell”
The reason was as simple as that
When she first started out as a painter,
a sudden flash of inspiration led her to paint on clothing
People began to buy them, and as their numbers grew,
so did the canvases: shoes, bags, even fundoshi...
For her, the canvas was always changing
This was the beginning of Sumism's “art you wear.”
Technology has advanced,
and even now, as printing, AI, and more broaden the ways to express, the core remains the same
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Touching it, wearing it, having fun with it:
Sumism stands beside each wearer in their “pursuit of originality”
Not as a brand, but as a “presence”
Archive
Event Archive
Live painting, galleries, Night Museum — a record of the places Sumi has walked. Photos change automatically or with a click.
2014
The Funny Father & Daughter Exhibition
A wonderfully funny exhibition only this funny father and daughter could pull off. The daughter painted over her father's works, the father painted over his daughter's, and the results were shown together.
Watch the digest
2015–
Night Museum
A night story built at places with a special connection, together with professional friends who delight in whatever SUMI wants to express at that moment. An art space by SUMI known only to those who were there. Recently held twice a year.
Digest video
2015–
SumismGallery White&Black Nagoya Japan
It began when SUMI met Gallery White&Black Nagoya Japan and spent four days painting every wall of the all-white gallery in a legendary live paint. Ever since, it has been a treasured place for NYC-scented SUMI, where new Sumism works are unveiled every year.
Digest video
2025
Sumism in SEKAI SOKO KYOTO
Captivated by Kyoto, SUMI longed to show her work there and made it happen: one of her new endeavors, showing in Kyoto.
2025
Sumism Gallery White&Black Nagoya
Back in NYC for the first time in six years, her brain was buzzing. Showing that electrified brain made her decide, once again, to walk the streets of NYC every year. Winter 2025.
Digest videoExplore Sumism
Into Other Worlds
Director
Tatsu
Director's Note
Sumism, told in detail.
Behind the scenes of the works, Sumi's everyday moments, the afterglow of events — a notebook written from the perspective of Director Tatsu. Come and read what lies beyond the story you met in Root.
Written by Director Tatsu
