is a Japanese

digital art Digital art, or the digital arts, is artistic work that uses Digital electronics, digital technology as part of the creative or presentational process. It can also refer to computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960 ...

ist, video game developer, photographer, and composer. His first work was the

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

album, ''Objectless'' (1983). His first work in the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

was '' Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou'', which first released in Japan for

Classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Mac (computer), Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and end ...

in 1994, and in North America for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

the following year. In 1998, he produced and composed the music for the video game '' LSD: Dream Emulator'' on the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

, which later became his most recognizable work outside of Japan.

Personal life

Sato was born on April 14, 1960, in

Kyoto, Japan Kyoto ( or ; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it the ninth-most pop ...

. During his childhood, his father and grandfather, both of whom were photographers, had a profound influence on him. His father and grandfather's photography of Buddhist art also shaped his artistic vision, as seen throughout his creations. The experience of visiting the Osaka Expo '70 with his father left a deep impression on the 10-year-old Sato. Sato pursued his formal education at the Kyoto Institute of Design and the Kyoto Saga Art College. After completing his studies, he worked for Mos Advertising Co., Ltd. before transitioning to freelance work. In 1986, he established the Osamu Sato Design Office (OSD), which was rebranded as Outside Directors Company (OSC) in 1988. Initially working as a graphic designer, Sato shifted his focus to game development in the 1990s. Currently, he is primarily engaged in artistic creation involving music and graphics.

Works

Albums

* 1983 – ''Objectless'' * 1994 – ''Transmigration'' * 1995 – ''Equal'' * 1997 – ''Linen Sampler'' * 1998 – ''LSD & Remixes'' * 1998 – ''Lucy in the Sky with Dynamites'' * 2017 – ''All Things Must Be Equal'' * 2018 – ''LSD Revamped'' * 2020 – ''Grateful in All Things'' * 2020 – ''Collected Ambient Grooves 1993 – 2001'' * 2020 – ''Transformed Collection'' * 2024 – ''Multiple Personality''

Video games

* 1994 – ( PC) * 1995 – (PC) * 1997 – (PC) * 1997 – (PC) * 1998 – '' LSD: Dream Emulator'' ( PS1) * 1999 – (PS1) * 2000 – (PS1)

Art books

* 1991 – ''The Alphabetical Orgasm'' * 1992 – ''Anonymous Animals'' * 1993 – ''The Art of Computer Designing: A Black and White Approach'' * 1998 – ''LSD - Lovely Sweet Dream'' * 2017 – ''All Things Must Be Equal'' * 2020 – ''Grateful in All Things''

Exhibitions

* 1991 – ''The Alphabetical Orgasm'', Tokyo * 1992 – ''The Alphabetical Orgasm'', Kyoto * 1992 – ''Anonymous Animals'', Tokyo * 1998 – Osamu Sato and LSD Expo, Tokyo * 2017 – ''All Things Must Be Equal'' * 2018 – ''LSD Revamped ~Neo Psychedelia~'', Tokyo * 2020 – ''Grateful in All Things'', Tokyo * 2022 – ''ROOT(S)'', Tokyo * 2024 – ''MULTIPLE PERSONALITY'', Tokyo

Videos

* 1994 – ''Compu Movie'' (VHS Tape) * 1994 – ''The Esoteric Retina'' (Video CD)

References

External links

* 1960 births 20th-century Japanese composers Artists from Kyoto Avant-garde art Japanese digital artists Japanese graphic designers Japanese male composers Japanese multimedia artists Japanese photographers Japanese surrealist artists Japanese techno musicians Japanese video game artists Living people Musicians from Kyoto {{Japan-bio-stub