Yutaka Inagawa (b. 23 Feb 1974) is a Japanese artist trained in painting, line drawing, and photography who specialises in exploiting digital

photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final imag ...

Biography

Born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan, he grew up in the

Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro Station, and several shops, restaurants, and department stores are located within city limits. Transportation At the center of Ikebukuro is ...

district. In 1997, he graduated first in his class at the

Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music or is a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

, then went on to gain a master's degree in

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...

in 2004 from

Chelsea College of Art and Design Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, prod ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Since then he has lived and worked in London. His art blends the delicate and the grotesque, juxtaposing photographic fragments, line art and painting to produce complex abstract works. His work is inspired by the uneasy lack of harmony between tradition and modernity in the fast-paced, constantly changing urban world. He sees parallels between his work and the way in which his home city, Tokyo, has absorbed western conventions into Japanese culture without any proper synthesis or reconciliation. He builds his organic-looking images from bizarre collections of carefully cut out photographic elements - including machinery, fish, road signs, leaves, weapons, furniture - the everyday alongside the unusual - the threatening with the benign - but skillfully intertwined so that the original forms are almost indiscernible. Inagawa's work has been on display in numerous exhibitions throughout the world. He was shortlisted for the Celeste Art Prize in both 2006 and 2007.

Exhibitions

*1996: "Sanyou-Ten", Myu Gallery,

Kanda, Tokyo is an area in northeastern Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It encompasses about thirty neighborhoods. Kanda was a ward prior to 1947. When the 35 Special wards of Tokyo, wards of Tokyo were reorganized into 23, it was merged with Kojimachi to form the ...

, Japan *2004: XHIBIT 04, The Arts Gallery, London *2004: MA fine art show, Chelsea College of Art and Design *2005: Galerie Suty,

Coye-la-Forêt Coye-la-Forêt () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 680 Communes of France, communes of the Oise Departments of France, department ...

, France *2005: St'Art, Strasbourg Art Fair,

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, France *2005: "Hybrid", Style Cube Zandari,

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

*2005: Summer Exhibition 2005,

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, London *2006: "Synchro-Tron", Aqffin Gallery, London *2007: New Art Center,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

*2008: "Cosmopolis", Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London *2008: "Around the Clock", I-MYU, London *2008: "Nonplace overlay", Bodhi Gallery, London *2009: "Sensory Cocktails", Gallery Zandari, Seoul, Korea *2009: "Crazytokyo", Galerie Suty, France *2013: "Slow Life: Generation in Exchanges", Yachiyono Oka Museum of Art,

Akitakata, Hiroshima file:Yoshida-kouriyama Castle Honmaru.JPG, 270px, ruins of Yoshida Koriyama Castle file:Yoshida district Akitakata city center area Aerial photograph.2005.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of Yoshida urban center is a Cities of Japan, city located in north- ...

*2016: "OTAK JEPUN", Lorong Kekabu,

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

*2014–15: "Yutaka Inagawa: The Invasion of Cyberspace", curated by Christina Mitrentse, Unit 24 Gallery, London *2017–18: "Floating Urban Slime/Sublime", presented and directed by Yutaka Inagawa, Art Gallery Miyauchi,

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inagawa, Yutaka Japanese artists Living people Artists from Tokyo University of Tokyo alumni 1974 births