Rina Iwai is a Japanese artist born in Kanagawa Japan currently studying print making at The Art Students League of New York., and former student of the prestigious Joshibi College of Art and Design in Tokyo, Japan. Rina is innovative in her style creating a contemporary spin on traditional Japanese ink and wash painting she sketches portraits using disposable chopsticks and Sumi Ink on Japanese paper, in an ironic nod to her cultural heritage.

Rina has been a part of a group show at the Ceres Gallery in New York, She has had other work shown in New York at NYCoo Gallery’s show of “Japanese Illustrators in New York.” She had her first Solo Exhibition at Destination Boutique Pad Thai in 2009. She has also shown in her native Tokyo, Japan at The Dazzle Gallery.

She describes her inspiration while working as “In my creative activities, I value important things, gentleness, atmosphere and memories and rhythm of line in the human shape.”