Midori Hirose

About

Midori Hirose (born in Hood River, OR) is a Japanese American multimedia artist currently based in Portland, OR.

Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, and Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (now called Oregon Contemporary) for the Portland Biennial. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at The Lumber Room in Portland, OR; East/West Project, Berlin, Germany; Newberg Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, and Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden.

In alchemy, materials transform from base metals to precious ones. Hirose's work investigates similar phase shifts, meditating on a theme she calls Never Not Here. This meditation revolves around the unseen, unknown, or undervalued aspects of the world (mystical or not) that possess power and inspire wonder.

As part of her material investigations, Hirose works to identify structural polarities and absolutes, playfully exploring the elements of forms to concretize, reveal, or catalyze different states. The structure of the work becomes a metaphor for the complexity of knowing. Research, materials, and techniques become models in her evolving taxonomy.

Hirose calls her relationship to history Material Storytelling. She sees her sculptures as dimensional results of these investigations. Hirose doesn’t distinguish between the material and the immaterial as sculptural elements. In her work, community bonds, historical narrative, perception (physiological and psychological), and storytelling are interchangeable with physical objects and materials. This results in multimedia events, exhibits, and documentation.

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Midori Hirose

 

Midori Hirose (born in Hood River, OR) is a Japanese American interdisciplinary artist based in Astoria, OR. 

Hirose explores themes of memory, transformation, and connection using playful nuance to discover new modes of communication. In her work, community bonds, recognizing space as a necessary part of the generative process through collaborations, historical narrative, perception (physiological and psychological), and storytelling are interchangeable with physical objects and materials. Research, materials, and techniques become animate models of emergent taxonomy. Hirose calls her relationship to this history "material storytelling." She sees her sculptures as dimensional illustrations of these investigations. They are metaphors for the complexity of knowing.

Hirose’s work has been shown nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, and Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (now called Oregon Contemporary) for the Portland Biennial. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and The Lumber Room in Portland, OR; East/West Project, Berlin, Germany; Newberg Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland; and Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden. She is currently a recipient of the 2026 Coastal Oregon Artists Residency (COAR) Oregon Artist-in-Residence, co-curator for the 2026 Multnomah Arts Center, Portland OR and was invited to partake as an artist for the Japan Pavilion Venice Art Biennale workshop in Italy August 2026.

midorihirose@gmail.com