Chie Shimizu was born in Japan in 1971. She works predominantly in the medium of sculpture with Japanese-style painting, but includes metal crafts and oil paintings among her earlier works. “My work is about the driving question that arises throughout one’s life: What is the significance of human existence?” Shimizu says.

Shimizu earned her BFA from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1993, with a major in metal crafts. She has had several shows of both metal works and oil paintings in Tokyo and Kanagawa, Japan, before moving to New York in 1996. She earned her MFA in sculpture from New York Academy of Art in 2001.  Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues in New York, including Island Weiss Gallery, Mark Miller Gallery, Dillon Gallery, Booth Gallery and Fresh Window Gallery. Shimizu’s work has also been included in private collections worldwide, from the United States to Germany, Turkey, Israel, Peru and Japan. She currently lives and works in Queens, New York.