Izumi Ueda Yuu is a Japanese-born visual artist who moved to US when she was 30 years old, going back and forth to Japan and then in Singapore. Since 2015, she is now living and working in Lisbon Portugal. Born in Yokohama City, she attended Kuwasawa Design Institute, Tokyo, received BFA in Sculpture from Maryland Institute of Arts of College in Baltimore/USA. She is two-time recipient of both Maryland State Art Counsel Individual Artist Grant and Baltimore City Art Counsel Individual Artist Grant. She was an artist in residences in Foundation Obras Holland & Portugal, Atelier OUTOTSU Printmaking Studio and Awagami Factory/Japan. She is a finalist of the Luxembourg Art Prize 2019.

“My work is about making the connection between art and everyday life. I’m interested in the notion of animism that things we use in our daily life can be spirited, respected and loved. I create images and objects with familiar shapes drawn from daily life.”