Ohara Museum of Art has run its artist residency program, “ARKO (Artist in Residence Kurashiki, Ohara)”, since 2005. Following a review of the program after the COVID-19 pandemic, it restarted in fiscal 2025 as one of the “Artist Collaborative Exchange Programs.”
The first artist invited after the restart was Japanese-style painter Ose Mayuko. Ose spent three months from April creating work in the former studio of Kojima Torajiro, located at “Muisonso,” and the studio was opened to the public on July 2, 2026.
This article takes another look at the relaunched ARKO through an interview with Ose.
The information presented was current when this article was published in July 2026. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What is ARKO?
ARKO (Artist in Residence Kurashiki, Ohara), run by the Ohara Art Foundation, is a residency program in which artists selected through an open call spend up to three months creating work and then exhibit their completed pieces to the public.
Since launching in 2005, ARKO has hosted 18 artists.
It was held annually through 2019, but the program scheduled for 2020 was postponed as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The next program was held in 2023, with Tanihara Natsuko as the artist.
Restarting as an “Artist Collaborative Exchange Program”
In 2024, the Ohara Museum of Art transitioned to a new structure under the Ohara Art Foundation. The program was reviewed as part of this change, and ARKO has also begun operating under a new framework.
There are two major changes.
- The program now spans two years
Artists are recruited, selected, and invited for a preliminary visit in the first year, followed by residency and a public exhibition in the second year.
For “ARKO 2025–2026,” applications and preliminary visits took place in fiscal 2025, followed by the residency and public exhibition in fiscal 2026. - The program is now positioned as one of the “Artist Collaborative Exchange Programs”
With “reusing Muisonso” and “sharing work from OHARA” as its two starting points, the program aims for artists and the museum to work more closely together and create excellent works together.
The artist for ARKO 2025–2026 is Ose Mayuko
The artist participating in ARKO 2025–2026 is Japanese-style painter Ose Mayuko.
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1996 and based in Tokyo. She completed the Japanese painting program in the Department of Painting, Graduate School of Art and Design, Tama Art University, in 2020.
She received the Grand Prize at the Biennale OME 2015 and the Embassy of France in Japan Award at Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi 2018. In recent years, she has held solo exhibitions in Taipei and at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, among other venues.
The residency studio is located at Muisonso in Sakazu, Kurashiki City.
Muisonso is where painter Kojima Torajiro, who also worked hard to build the Ohara Museum of Art’s collection, was based from 1912 onward.
The atmosphere changes as you enter the grounds of Muisonso. The studio stood at the top of stone steps that looked slippery, after a short climb through a lush green setting that left us a little out of breath.
The studio was reportedly built in 1927 so Kojima Torajiro could create “The Imperial Conference on the Declaration of War Against Russia,” which he would present to the Meiji Jingu Gaien Shoto Memorial Picture Gallery. It is spacious, with a total floor area of about 124 square meters.
There is no electricity or running water, and no heating or air conditioning. Natural light streams in through the windows.
About the work for ARKO 2025–2026
The work she is creating this time is reportedly the largest of Ose’s works to date. She has mounted Japanese paper on a wooden panel and is painting with mineral pigments used in Japanese-style painting.
At the center of the work is a large shark, with a limestone cave stretching behind it. Shadow-like figures, which appear frequently in Ose’s work, overlap one another.
The work’s theme is “the boundary between wild animals (threatening beings) and humans.” Ose said she drew a preliminary sketch before coming to the studio in April, considering where that boundary lies.
Ose Mayuko: Q&A
We spoke with Ose about the intentions behind the motifs in her work and her impressions of the working environment.
What made you apply to ARKO?
Ose (surname only)
Until now, I had only painted in Tokyo.
I applied because I thought that spending three months in Okayama Prefecture, which I was visiting for the first time, might let me encounter themes and motifs I had never come across before and open up new possibilities in my painting.
The painting of a large shark caught in a net at the center is striking.
Ose
Originally, I was thinking of painting a large, shaggy beast, and I considered a bear. But it seems bears don’t appear much in Okayama, and I felt there was no reason to paint one here and now.
One day, during a break from working, I decided to take a casual trip to Kasaoka. I happened to visit the Kasaoka City Local History Museum, where I learned about human bones excavated from the Tsukumo Shell Mound in Kasaoka.
They are said to be the remains of the world’s oldest known shark victim, so I decided to paint the shark as “a powerful presence that humans can do nothing about.”
The figures in the work are painted in black, with no discernible expressions or ages. Why do you depict them as silhouettes?
Ose
I use silhouettes because I want to leave out information such as gender, age, and facial expression.
I’m more interested in the circumstances surrounding people, such as the environment around the figures in the painting, than in “what kind of people they are,” which is why I use this kind of expression.
There are figures in unusual poses.
Ose
The people’s poses express instinctive, rather than rational, impulses, such as the three basic human desires.
Also, although they have captured the shark, they don’t rejoice as they look at it. They seem detached and cold. I wanted to give the scene a feeling of little warmth.
The painting also includes a yellow chain and net, as well as a floor that looks like a plastic sheet. What was your intention behind this combination?
Ose
For the chain in front of the limestone cave, I bought a plastic chain from a home improvement store and painted it.
The compositions in my paintings are imaginary images that aren’t very realistic.
By adding familiar things like ropes, chains, and plastic sheets to those images, I want to keep the distance between the painting and myself from becoming too great. That’s why I deliberately include these cheap, everyday motifs.
What did you feel while working in a studio without electricity or running water?
Ose
It’s a somewhat inconvenient place to paint, but it made me realize again how important things I don’t usually pay much attention to—the light, the sound of the wind, and the presence of insects and plants—are.
When I went there at roughly the same time every day, the kinds of insects that appeared changed from day to day. I’d notice that a certain kind of insect had started appearing, or that a particular flower had finished blooming and fallen to the ground that day.
I felt that these small changes meant a great deal to me.
What does it mean to you to paint in a studio associated with Kojima Torajiro?
Ose
I can really feel that Kojima Torajiro painted large works here.
There are also traces left by the artists who took part in ARKO before me.
I worked with the hope that I could become part of that history, even if only in a small way.
Open to the public from July 15
In a place without electricity or running water, with natural light streaming through the windows, Ose worked earnestly on her large piece, brush in hand.
When we visited on July 2, 2026, the work was still in progress, and she planned to add more detail. The title had not yet been decided, and we look forward to seeing how the work changes further before it opens to the public.
The completed work, created during her three-month residency, will be on view in Gallery 7 of the Main Building at the Ohara Museum of Art from Wednesday, July 15, through Sunday, September 27, 2026.
Articles about the Ohara Museum of Art
ARKO2025-2026 Ose Mayuko Information
| Name | ARKO2025-2026 Ose Mayuko |
|---|---|
| Dates | Wednesday, July 15–Sunday, September 27, 2026 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (last admission at 4:30 p.m.) [Closed] Monday, July 27; Monday, September 7; Monday, September 14 |
| Location | 1-1-15 Chuo, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Admission (tax included) | Admission included with regular admission to the Ohara Museum of Art Adults ¥2,000 High school, junior high school, and elementary school students (under 18) ¥500 |
| Website | ARKO2025-2026 Ose Mayuko |
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