Biography
Michiko Van de Velde is a Belgian-Japanese artist born in Brasschaat, Belgium, in 1994, who lives and works in Brussels. Growing up in a family of musicians, she travelled back and forth between Belgium and Japan to follow her parents' concerts, cultivating a deep connection to both cultures from an early age. She studied Fine Art during an exchange program at the Central Saint Martins School in London.
Van de Velde's artistic practice is centered on her observations of sunlight at specific times and places. She experiences sunlight as an encounter, seeking to capture its apparitions before its nuances and changes disappear. Through a plurality of media including painting, ceramics, site-specific artworks, etchings, woodblock prints on Japanese paper, books, and video, she shares these short-lived experiences as attempts to accept the irreversibility of time.
She was selected for the juried exhibition at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference (IMC) in Echizen, Japan, where her prints were displayed in the Europe and Africa regional exhibition. Her work has been exhibited in solo shows in Brussels, Liege, and Tokyo, and she is represented by the Michele Schoonjans Gallery in Brussels. She has been featured in BRUZZ, the Brussels cultural magazine.
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇧🇪Belgium
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Works Indexed
- 2
Frequently Asked Questions
Michiko Van de Velde is a Belgian-Japanese artist born in Brasschaat, Belgium, in 1994, who lives and works in Brussels. Growing up in a family of musicians, she travelled back and forth between Belgium and Japan to follow her parents' concerts, cultivating a deep connection to both cultures from an early age. She studied Fine Art during an exchange program at the Central Saint Martins School in London.
Michiko Van de Velde's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
Michiko Van de Velde is a contemporary printmaker working in the mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock) tradition. Their work contributes to the living tradition of Japanese woodblock printing. Prices for contemporary mokuhanga prints range from $100 for smaller works to $1,500 for major compositions. Most prints sell in the $180–$600 range. The global mokuhanga community has been growing, with increasing exhibition opportunities and collector interest. Contemporary mokuhanga represents an affordable entry point for collectors.
