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Barbara Ishikura is a Boston-based figurative painter represented by Kaliner Gallery in NYC. She holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Her work explores the intersection of identity, social class, and gender through figurative portraiture, focusing on the female body’s navigation of social spaces and the fluid boundaries between class and culture in contemporary society.

In her recent work, Ishikura depicts women whose physicality and environment challenge conventional norms. These figures often exhibit exaggerated physical traits, while casually engaging in vices like smoking and drinking.  Their poses draw from classical art while being juxtaposed with working-class iconography and opulent surroundings, blending refinement with mundanity. This contrast critiques the divide between sophistication and working-class culture.

As a contemporary female artist, Ishikura seeks to reclaim the female nude, interrogating the historical male gaze and asserting a new narrative of female ownership and agency in art. Her background—shaped by a lower working-class upbringing, being a first-generation college graduate, and living in Japan—shapes her exploration of cultural duality and the concept of “taste” within social class. In her latest work, she contrasts high and low cultural objects to reveal the hierarchical structures around taste and class, aiming to challenge and deconstruct cultural norms in both art and society.

Ishikura teaches drawing in Studio Foundation and is a visiting artist and mentor in the Low-Res Graduate Program at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Industry Experience

Recent Exhibitions:

• 2026 – Kaliner Gallery, (solo), NY, NY
• 2025 – Kaliner Gallery, (group), NY, NY
• 2024 – As I See It, (solo), FORMah Gallery, NY, NY
• 2024 – Heirloom Convoy, MassArt x SoWa, Boston, Ma
• 2023 – A Suitable Accomplishment, Trotter & Sholer Gallery, NY, NY
• 2023 – Barbara Ishikura & Isabelle Higgins, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, Ma
• 2023 – Frippery, Finery, Frills, Barbara Ishikura & Samantha Fields, Elizabeth de C. Wilson Museum,  Manchester, VT
• 2022 – We Interrupt This Program, LaMontagne Gallery & Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, Ma
• 2021 – Spring Fever, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT
• 2021 – See and Be Seen, Praise Shadows Gallery, Brookline, Ma
• 2016 – Shadow Sides, Nishimachi Art Space, Tokyo, Japan
• 2016 – Fractals of Pain, AIRY, Yamanashi, Japan

Artist Residencies & Awards:

• 2025 – Cill Railiag, Artist Residency, Fellowship, Ireland
• 2024 – Mass Cultural Council, Grants for Creative Individuals
• 2023 – New York Times – commission “Odalisque on Chaise Lounge”
• 2022 – Cill Railiag, Artist Residency, Fellowship, Ireland
• 2019 – Art New England Emerging Artist, March/April
• 2019 – The Studios at MASS MoCA: An Assets for Artists Program & Grant, North Adams, MA
• 2019 – Jentel, Artist Residency, Fellowship, Banner, WY
• 2018 – Emerging Artist Award and Grant, St. Botolph Club Foundation, Boston, Ma

Publications:

• VoyageLA, “Meet Barbara Ishikura”, March 25, 2024
• The Arts Fuse, “Is There a Boston Art?”, by Helen Miller and Michael Strand, March 10, 2023.
• The Boston Globe, “Between You and Me” is a Portrait of Two Portraitists. by Cate McQuaid, Feb. 28, 2023.
• ArtNet News, “Artists Grapple with the Meaning of Motherhood in New York Gallery Show” by Sarah Cascone, Feb. 17, 2023.
• The Boston Globe,”See and Be Seen,” Praise Shadows Gallery, Brookline, Ma, January 2021.
• Art New England, “Unmasked, Artful Responses to the Pandemic,” March 28, 2021.
• Art New England, “10 Emerging New England Artists,” A Jury of Six Selects an Extraordinary Ten, March/April 2019
• Big Red and Shiny, MassArt’s 2018 MFA Thesis Exhibition by Stace Brandt, May 8, 2018.

Connect:

• barbaraishikura.com
• IG: @barbara.ishikura