Mr.
Profile
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 the number of people following him on Japanese social networking sites like pixiv continues to grow dramatically.
Mr.’s body of work can be likened to the display of art in one’s own dirty bedroom. In fact, many of the new installation strategies which are emerging in Japan, as seen in events such as Tokyo’s “Chaos Lounge,” drew strong influence from Mr.’s practice.
After years spent laboring in the underground, Mr. is now becoming a major presence in the mainstream.
- 1996
Graduated from Department of Fine Arts, Sokei Art School, Tokyo
- 1969
Born in Cupa
- 2024
“Invoke It and a Flower Shall Blossom”, Perrotin (Paris, France)
- 2022
“Mr.: You Can Hear the Song of This Town”, Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, USA)
“Beyond the Alley, There…”, Lehmann Maupin Gallery (New York, USA)
- 2021
“Quotidianist”, How Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
- 2019
“A Call To Action” Musée Guimet (Paris, France)
“Mr.’s Melancholy Walk Around the Town”, Perrotin (Paris, France)- 2018
“People misunderstand me and the contents of my paintings. They just think they are nostalgic, cute, and look like Japanese anime. That may be true, but really, I paint daily in order to escape the devil that haunts my soul. The said devil also resides in my blood, and I cannot escape from it no matter how I wish. So I paint in resignation.”, Perrotin (Hong Kong, China)
- 2017
“FLOATING IN THE AIR IN THE VICINITY OF A CONVENIENCE STORE”, Lehmann Maupin Gallery (Hong Kong, China)
- 2016
“Tokyo, the City I Know, at Dusk: It’s Like a Hollow in My Heart”, Perrotin (Seoul, Korea)
“Sunset in My Heart”, Lehmann Maupin Gallery (New York, USA)- 2015
“lost -Mental sketch modified-“, Hidari Zingaro (Tokyo, Japan)
- 2014
“Live On: Mr.’s Japanese Neo-Pop”, Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, USA)
- 2013
“Sweeet!”, Perrotin (Hong Kong, China)
- 2012
“Metamorphosis: Give Me Your Wings”, Lehmann Maupin Gallery (New York, USA)
- 2010
“Solo Exhibition”, Leeahn Gallery (Daegu, South Korea)
- 2008
“Nobody Dies” , Perrotin (Paris, France)
Lehmann Maupin Gallery (New York, USA)
- 2007
Lehmann Maupin Gallery (New York, USA)
- 2006
“Mr.”, Musée d’Art Contemporain (Lyon, France)
“Nin – stealth”,, Perrotin (Miami, USA)- 2004
“ISSEY x Mr., ISSEY MIYAKE by Naoki Takizawa” (Tokyo, Japan)
“Thank You for Your Hard Work”, Tomio Koyama Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)- 2003
Perrotin (Paris, France)
- 2001
“Venus #2”, Vedanta Gallery (Chicago, USA)
- 2024
“Imagine”, Perrotin （Seoul, Korea）
- 2022
“Roppongi Art Night 2022”, Kaikai Kiki Gallery（Tokyo, Japan）
- 2021
“2021 Kaikai Kiki Autumn Show”, Kaikai Kiki Gallery（Tokyo, Japan）
“HEALING x HEALING”, Kaikai Kiki Gallery（Tokyo, Japan）
“Healing”, Perrotin （Shanghai, China）
- 2020
“Healing”, Perrotin（Seoul, Korea）
“Kaleidoscopes：Contemporary Portraiture”, Perrotin（Hong Kong, China）
- 2019
“Bishojo: Young Pretty Girls in Art History”, Museum of National Taipei University of Education (Taipei, Taiwan)
“MURAKAMI vs MURAKAMI”, Tai Kwun Contemporary (Taipei, Taiwan)
Perrotin （Seoul, Korea）
- 2018
“Megane to Tabisuru Bijutsuten”, AOMORI MUSEUM OF ART (Aomori, Japan), IWAMI ART MUSEUM (Shimane, Japan), Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art (Shizuoka, Japan)
- 2017
“The Doraemon Exhibition Tokyo 2017”, Mori Arts Center Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
“Yokohama Triennale 2017 Islands, Constellations and Galapagos” , Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
- 2015
“Animamix Biennale”, Daegu Art Museum (Daegu, South Korea)
- 2014
“GIRL”, Perrotin (Paris, France)
- 2004
“T-JUNCTION”, Perrotin (Paris, France)
- 2002
Perrotin (Paris, France)
ARTWORKS
