Born in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, Minako Ishikawa is a Japanese artist whose practice centers on the invisible presence of “air.” Through meticulously rendered gradations and fine color lines, her work captures the ephemeral—light, time, and perception suspended in atmosphere. Her works, akin to decomposed light spectra, use meticulous gradients to construct a visual experience that is both tranquil and charged with tension. Beneath the seemingly restrained technique lies a gentle gaze that honors the invisible, inviting reflection on the divisions, indifference, uniformity, and disconnect of contemporary society, and evoking a quiet longing for diversity and shared empathy.

Ishikawa holds a graduate degree in Art Education from Iwate University. Since the early 2000s, she has held numerous solo exhibitions in cities such as Tokyo, Taipei, Odawara, Fujisawa, Nasushiobara, and Kesennuma, with recurring solo shows at Tagboat Gallery in Tokyo. Her work has also been featured in major group exhibitions and art festivals across Japan and internationally, including in New York, Edinburgh, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Tainan. Her work has received numerous accolades, including the Grand Prize at the Tagboat Award (2014) and Second Prize at Young Artist Japan (2010), and is held in public collections such as the Rias Ark Museum of Art (Miyagi) and Atami Korakuen Hotel (Shizuoka).