YOJI KUMAGAI 熊谷曜志
Born in 1982 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Lives and works in Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Yoji Kumagai has shown his work in several award-winning exhibitions, stemming as far back as the first year after his graduation from university. Combining the traditional techniques of Nihonga with modern tools of expression, he explores the many varieties of existence, while also evoking the natural scenery and emotional responses to human behavior that accumulates within his subconscious. His characters combine the gravity of real flesh and blood with a lightness that makes them seem as if they are clothed in multiple layers of air.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
Yoji Kumagai: Japanese Style Paintings (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
2013
Solo Exhibition (Ito bijutsu-ten, Aichi)
2007
Solo Exhibition (Gallery Kusabue, Aichi)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
Reimagined: Contemporary Artists Take on The Tale of Genji (SEIZAN Gallery, New York)
2016
Yokai Tea Ceremony (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
The 20th Anniversay Special Exhibition (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
Something Special: Ido (SEIZAN Gallery, Toyko)
2015
Something Precious: Water (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo)
2014
TABRIS (Ito bijutsu-ten, Aichi and Saihodo Gallery, Tokyo)
Shin Nihonga Kenkyu-kai (Matsuzakaya, Aichi)
Two person exhibition Kichitarou Kotozuka x Yoji Kumagai (Nagoya City Archives, Aichi)
2013
Retsu-ten (Matsuzakaya, Aichi and Tokyo, continued in 2015)
2012
Masaya Yamada x Yoji Kumagai (Ito bijutsu-ten, Aichi)
2011
Yamazato Art Meguri: Kitemin! Okumikawa in Yuya-spa (Aichi, continued until 2013)
Se no kai (Matsuzakaya, Aichi)
AWARDS
2011
Selected for Shingo Hoshino award at Toyohashi Triennale
2009
Selected for the 94th Saiko In-ten
2007
Received prize from JAXA (The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), "Nihonga wa uchu wo egaku"
Selected for the 62nd Spring In-ten
Selected for the 92nd Saiko In-ten
EXHIBITIONS
Reimagined: Contemporary Artists Take on The Tale of Genji