Bio

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Junko O’Neill is a Japanese fine artist based in Winchester, UK. Inspired by the Japanese aesthetic principle of Ma—“the space between”—her work invites reflection, exploring the delicate balance between presence and absence.

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A central element of her practice is Iwaenogu, traditional Japanese pigments made from ground rock. Their soft, matte tones build layered surfaces that embody both space and time. Through careful brushwork and subtle rhythms of colour, her contemporary abstract paintings evoke moods and atmospheres that are sensed rather than directly seen, capturing fleeting moments of calm and tension.

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Her work has been selected for the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours (RI) 213th Exhibition (2025) and The Other Art Fair London (2025), where she was one of 175 exhibiting artists. Her paintings are also on display at Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay, Mayfair, London. Other notable exhibitions include The 9th AMATERAS Annual Paper Art Exhibition, Finnesse Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (2017) and Inspired by the Words, Winchester Cathedral (2017). She has been longlisted or shortlisted for several open calls, including Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2022, 2017), the John Moores Painting Prize (2018), Celeste Prize (2011), Kudos International (2013), and Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize (2015).

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O’Neill has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, including solo shows Miscellany at Burgh House, London (2025) and Colours of Silence at Gallery Mar, Tokyo (2025), as well as group shows in Berlin, Paris, and Florence. She holds a BA and MA from Winchester School of Art. Born in Tokyo, she now lives and works in Winchester.

 

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