Rio Umezawa

Born in 1974 in Mie Prefecture, Japan.

RIO UMEZAWA began studying painting and handicrafts at the age of three under the guidance of Japanese artist Mineo Ohura. Fascinated by the works of Picasso, Dalí, and Surrealism from an early age, she later discovered American Pop Art, which inspired her dream of studying art abroad.

At the age of fifteen, she moved alone to the United States. She studied oil painting, acrylic painting, silkscreen, and etching at The Cambridge School of Weston in Massachusetts before continuing her Fine Art studies at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California.

After returning to Japan, UMEZAWA worked in various fields before making her debut as a radio DJ in 1998. Over the following years, she hosted programs on major Japanese radio stations including FM Osaka, ZIP-FM, and the nationwide JFN network, while also building a successful career as a narrator and event MC.

Despite her demanding career in broadcasting and voice performance, she continued creating artwork and began exhibiting regularly around 2000. Having worked extensively with oil and acrylic painting, she introduced her GRID Series in Osaka in 2013, created entirely with a single marker pen on canvas. The series attracted att...

・The Cambridge School of Weston, Massachusetts, USA
・Academy of Art University, San Francisco, California, USA (Fine Art)

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2025
YURAGI, Space Wow, Tokyo, Japan

2024–2025
Microcosmos: Tiny Rooms Within a Box, Hakoniwa / Hakone Dollhouse Museum, Kanagawa, Japan

2024
Waves of Voice, Bokushin Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2023
Mental Landscapes and Inner Images, Onden Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Vent de Printemps (Spring Breeze), Dining Room La Table, Osaka, Japan

2022
To Beautiful Silence, Ishikawa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Fusion of Vision, Art for Thought, Tokyo, Japan

Fragrance of Summer, Tokyu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan

Wacoal × RIO UMEZAWA – Soshi, Engawa Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan

2021
Boundless Horizon, Odakyu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan

Small Worlds – Print Exhibition, Hitototema, Tokyo, Japan

Bienvenue chez RIO, Grenier by Uruotte, Tokyo, Japan

Vitality – Living Beyond Race and Gender, Ishikawa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2020
Prayer and Dance of Cherishment, Odakyu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan

Myo (Radiance), Matsubishi Department Store, Mie, Japan

2019
Time – Retrospective: Then and Now, Art for Thought, Tokyo, Japan

2017
Materialism or Non-Materialism?, Smart Ship Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Reality and Creation, JILL D’ ART Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

2015
Naturalism, Café MUSEA, Mie, Japan

Mysticism, Gallery de Room 702, Osaka, ...