Country/Region Archives

After 20 years as Takashi Murakami’s protégé , Mr. has developed a career as an artist by focusing on anime and video game-esque renditions of everyday Japanese girls. Singlehandedly undoing the stigma of producing paintings or drawings on paper in an anime style, Mr. has proved to be the first of his kind and theContinue reading “Mr.”

Born in 1992, ob is one of the leading figures amongst the artists who emerged as part of Japan’s SNS generation in 2010. Whilst she was a university student in Kyoto, she organized and curated several local exhibitions after reaching out to other artists her age through the illustration communication service ‘pixiv’. This culminated inContinue reading “ob”

Born in Shiga Prefecture in 1980, he started using the artist name Otani Workshop in 2005. Currently based in Shiga Prefecture town of Shigaraki, the artist works with wood, iron, and other materials in addition to ceramics. Otani’s works maintain the rough texture of coarse-grained clay, which, together with their cute appearances, give them theirContinue reading “Otani Workshop”

B. 1987, Saitama, Japan. Influenced by modern and contemporary painting, Sablo Mikawa is recognized for his dramatic oil paintings that explore contemporary subjects, including virtual realities derived from manga and film. The characters he depicts frequently exhibit grotesque effects on their faces and bodies, which serve to highlight distinctive character traits, inner qualities, and silhouettesContinue reading “Sablo Mikawa”

Born in Osaka, Japan, 1977. Currently lives and works in Osaka. Takeshi Masada has been highly acclaimed for his dynamic images and compositions, which are mainly paintings that reconstruct scenes from movies, TV shows and everyday life. Masada draws his inspiration from figures in his nightmares. Painting and morphing these figures with bold brushstrokes andContinue reading “Takeshi Masada”

Yukino Yamanaka, born in 1999 in Nagano Prefecture, is currently based in Tokyo and Kanagawa. She graduated from the Kyoto University of the Arts Graduate School in 2023. Yamanaka has meticulously focused on both the contours of humans as physical entities and their conditions as phenomena, portraying the amorphous and non-human entities that lurk withinContinue reading “Yukino Yamanaka”