Aoyama was born in 1997 and is from Ibaraki. She obtained her MA in painting from Tohoku University of Art and Design. Observing modern life with a mythological mindset, she researches the coexistence of nature and humans, who exist in a cycle of healing and destruction. She is interested in animals, who mingle freely and know no borders, even when disaster strikes. Seeing commonalities between myths and the kaijū from the Ultraman series she grew up with, she incorporates into her work the skin and hair of various animals, obtaining them before they are disposed of.
Select exhibitions:
2024 — Solo exhibition: Invisible Kaiju — Art Front Gallery, Tokyo
2024 — ART SG 2024 — Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Singapore
2023 — Solo exhibition: Stitching Beasts — Takashimaya Shinjuku, Tokyo
Select awards:
2020 — Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi, Marunouchi Prize — Gyoko-dori Underground Gallery, Tokyo
2022 — 25th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art (TARO Award)
Kageyama draws lots of characters who love to do as they please! Animal and food motifs are common in her works.
Select exhibitions:
2023 — — ASTER, Kanezawa
2023 — PARALLEL — ondo Gallery, Tokyo
2017 — Tapir’s Room in the Basement (15th Graphic 1_WALL Grand Prix solo exhibition) — Guardian Garden, Tokyo
Select awards:
2019 — Nominated in the Music Animation competition at the 6th New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival
2018 — Nominated in the Animation category at the 72nd Mainichi Film Awards
2018 — Selected in GLAS Animation Festival’s International Showcase
2016 — 15th Graphic 1_WALL Grand Prix
Kuki was born in 1991 and is from Wakayama. Somehow, he feels a strong connection to the things he played with as a child: the figurines and stuffed toys, the video games and the toys from the anime shows he watched. He channels their feel, their softness, their expressions in the ceramic figurines and paintings he creates.
Select exhibitions:
2022 — Ceramic Mountain — kumagusuku, Kyoto
2020 — Solo exhibition: DEATH DREAM — VOU, Kyoto
2016 — Solo exhibition: i museum — VOU, Kyoto
Takakura was born in 1987 and is from Yamanashi. He graduated with an MA from Tokyo Zokei University. Working in digital media such as video games, pixel art, VR, NFTs and AI, he creates works themed around the rewriting of the rules of contemporary art through Buddhism and other forms of Eastern thought, the pursuit of new values around digital data, and the art of character variation. His works have been exhibited in Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art and Ashikaga Museum of Art, as well as in Mexico, Boston, South Korea, New York and elsewhere. He lectures part-time at Kyoto University of the Arts.
Select exhibitions:
2024 — Opening a New World of Art: Ashikaga Real Art Experience – Miwa Komatsu, Akira Ishiguro, Kazuki Takakura — Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi
2023 — LABONCHI 01. Kazuki Takakura: Mechareal — Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art/Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art Metaverse, Yamanashi
2023 — Art is Magic: Clay Pig Selection 2 — Nihonbashi Anarchy Cultural Center, Tokyo
Select awards:
2012 — 7th Graphic 1_WALL Finalist
2021 — ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO Excellence Award (Noboru Tsubaki Award)
Tanimura was born in 1998 and is from Tokyo Prefecture. She graduated from Tohoku University of Arts and Design with an MA in Culture and the Arts. Pencil, ballpoint pen, crayon and Apple Pencil: even without these tools, all she needs is her fingers in order to draw monsters wherever she is. She describes herself as a “crazy creator enchanted by the coolness of collectible toys and cartoons.” She and her band of loyal monsters fight the kinds of little evil that exist everywhere. Now more than ever, at a time when these evils are starting to pile up, she creates monsters day and night, feeling like she’s saving the world.
Select exhibitions:
2024 — ONE ART Taipei
2024 — Hotel Metropolitan Premier Taipei, Taiwan
2024 — Saturday Night Once More — WALL_alternative, Tokyo
2022 — Solo exhibition: Romana Toy Store — myheirloom at Art Chiyoda, Tokyo
Select awards:
2021 — Grand Prize in Oil Painting, Graduation Work Exhibition at the Tohoku University of Arts and Design
2021 — Shigeo Goto Award, Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi
Hirayama was born in 1994 and is from Tokyo Prefecture. He graduated from Tokyo Zokei University, majoring in sculpture, then completed his graduate degree at Tokyo University of the Arts’ Department of Art and Education. He chiefly works with installations and sculptural objects made of clay. He places a lot of importance on making things, having others connect with them, and the extra-linguistic communication that arises in the process. Since 2021, he has run Atelier Salon Koshinkyoku in the downtown Shinagawa area.
Select exhibitions:
2024 — Sapporo Parallel Museum — Sapporo Ekimae Street Underground Walkway, Hokkaido
2023 — Solo exhibition: Eye-Cloud-I — Pacifica Collectives, Tokyo
2022 — Echigo-Tsumari Art Field 2022 — Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art MonET, Niigata
Select awards:
2020 — Winner, 5th Genron Art School Scholarship
2020 — Winner, 3rd Iriya Koubo selection
