August 15 to September 22, 2025
“Cutie and the Boxer” Film Screening:
ShowRoom Cinema, 707 Cookman Street, Asbury Park, New Jersey
Friday, August 15th at 7:30 pm and Sunday, August 17th at 4:30 pm
Art Exhibition Opening Reception:
Parlor Gallery, 717 Cookman Street, Asbury Park, New Jersey
Saturday, August 16th from 6:00 to 10:00 pm
Ushio and Noriko Shinohara. Courtesy of Daniel Driensky.
Asbury Park welcomes the internationally acclaimed artist couple, Ushio and Noriko Shinohara to both ShowRoom Cinema and Parlor Gallery on Cookman Street. The artists are represented by Deborah Colton Gallery and this project is in conjunction with OUTPOST NYC DCG. Both artists and Deborah Colton will be present to introduce the film and during the art exhibition’s opening reception.
Born in Tokyo in 1932, Ushio Shinohara (nicknamed “Gyu-chan”), is a Japanese Neo-Dadaist artist who has lived and worked in the United States since 1969. His parents, a tanka poet and Japanese painter, instilled in him a love for artists such as Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. Known for his boxing paintings, which are artifacts of his performances, Ushio works in several mediums including painting, printmaking, drawing and sculpture.
Ushio’s bright and frequently oversized work has exhibited at prestigious institutions, including the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art; Centre Georges Pompidou; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Japan Society, New York; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pusa, the Walker Art Center, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum of Art and at the Tate Modern in London among many others.
Noriko Shinohara was born in 1953 in Takaoka City, Japan, moved to New York in 1972 to study art, and soon met Ushio in 1973. She has worked as an artist for many years, but the work she is best known for is her Cutie and Bullie series that began in 2006. This series includes drawings, paintings, and prints that feature her characters Cutie and Bullie who are based on a semi-autobiographical story of her relationship with Ushio. The scenes inspired by recent events reveal Cutie’s triumphs as her work and worth are finally being realized, by both herself and the outside world. Noriko and Ushio are the featured subjects of the Academy Award nominated documentary that also received an Emmy Award for “Best Documentary,” Cutie and the Boxer, which explores the history of the couple’s often tumultuous marriage and their lives as artists. Noriko’s work has been exhibited frequently in New York, nationally and internationally, and is in many institutional permanent collections, including the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College. Noriko’s works have been exhibited throughout the United States and world-wide.
ShowRoom Cinema is a small independent theatre that features high-quality first run films, documentaries, Oscar Shorts, classics, and hosts live comedy and musical performances. In a small intimate setting, they are known for providing a variety of entertainment to the art-conscious community.
OUTPOST NYC DCG was established in 2009 as part of Deborah Colton Gallery (DCG). It aims to show new and newly rediscovered films, video and installation art, photography, painting, performance art and drawing and sculpture. OUTPOST NYC DCG is a platform for developing new experimental programing, often in collaboration with existing art venues and organizations, mainly in New York, but also nationally and internationally.
Since 2009, Parlor Gallery has been the heart of artistic and cultural renaissance and revival in Asbury Park, redefining the gallery experience through diverse and thought-provoking exhibitions which combine contemporary urban art with coastal charm. Featuring both emerging and internationally recognized artists, the gallery fosters artistic growth by providing a platform to educate and inspire, and to also bring art outside to public spaces through their collaborative art initiatives like the Wooden Walls Art Project.