Lucinda’s Naoshi WereWolf Print

Naoshi was born in Iwate, Japan, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She works with the medium of sand art known as Sunae in Japanese. Using brightly colored, shiny grains of sand, she visualizes a fantastical world of her own, imbued with a sense of nostalgia.

Naoshi began her career as a Sunae artist in 2004 in Japan, and since 2007 she has exhibited her work internationally in the U.S.A, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, China, Korea, and Taiwan. Recent exhibitions include Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk (2016) at the Queens Museum in New York, Small Gift Los Angeles: SANRIO 50th Anniversary Exhibition (2010) at Barker Hangar in Los Angeles, and URBAN SUPERSTAR Show (2009) at The Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina (MADRE) in Naples, Italy. In 2015, Overcup Press published Naoshi’s illustrated book ICE CREAM WORK, which was inspired by an artwork she drew at age 7 titled Ice Cream Walked.

For Naoshi, Sunae is a visual tool to express unique worldviews. In addition to creating her own artworks, Naoshi makes Sunae kits, which are available to the public, and runs workshops in the hope of sharing the joy of using this expressive art form.