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Artists > YAMADA Kohei
YAMADA Kohei
山田 康平
1997 Born in Osaka
2020 BFA in Oil Painting, Musashino Art University
2022 MFA, Kyoto University of the Arts
Lives and works in Tokyo
Gellery: Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo
Kohei Yamada begins his painting process by generously saturating his canvas or paper with oil. Then, drawing black lines that serve as starting points or as contours, and placing in the upper left corner a spot of yellow representing light, Yamada proceeds to cover the whole surface with dynamic sweeps of vibrant colors. Successive applications of the brush create a smoother texture, enhance the hues between adjacent planes, and form a multilayered structure that lends Yamada’s paintings their characteristic sense of depth.
Kohei Yamada (b. 1997, Osaka) graduated with a major in oil painting from Musashino Art University in 2020 and completed his master’s degree in the same field at Kyoto University of the Arts in 2022. He is currently based in Tokyo. His solo exhibitions include “Strikethrough” at Taka Ishii Gallery (Tokyo, 2023); “Like Hiding It” at biscuit gallery (Tokyo, 2022); “The Way the Lines Come In” at MtK Contemporary Art and Kyoto Okazaki Tsutaya Books (Kyoto, 2022); “road” at HILLSIDE TERRACE ANNEX-A (Tokyo, 2021). Yamada has also participated in group exhibitions such as “Everywhere It Goes” at Mai 36 Galerie (Zurich, 2024); “A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection“ at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2024); “Collection Exhibition” at Museum of Modern Art (Gunma, 2024); “Abstraction (re)creation – 20 under 40” at Le Consortium (Dijon, 2024); “biscuit gallery Opening Exhibition II” at biscuit gallery (Tokyo, 2021), as well as in “ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO” at the Museum of Kyoto Annex (Kyoto, 2020 and 2021). He was a Contemporary Art Foundation (CAF) Award finalist in 2020.
Solo Exhibition
2025
Borderline, ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL, Seoul, Korea
2023
Strikethrough, Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo
2022
Like hiding it, biscuit gallery, Tokyo
MtK Contemporary Art, Kyoto
Kyoto Okazaki Tsutaya Bookstore, Kyoto
2021
road, HILLSIDE TERRACE ANNEX-A, Tokyo
Nobori, Oriru, Gallery Bisha, Tokyo
Group Exhibition
2024
A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Collection Exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Gunma
young okazaki vol.4, MtK Contemporary Art, Kyoto
Here and There and Back Again, Japanese Art 1964 – 2024, Nicolas Krupp Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
Abstraction (re)creation – 20 under 40, Le Consortium, Dijon, France
Landing Point, ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL, Seoul, Korea
2023
Draw Lines & Shapes in My Maps, Taka Ishii Gallery Maebashi, Gunma
2022
Polyphony, ARARIO GALLERY SHANGHAI, Shanghai, China
nine colors XVI, Seibu Shibuya, Tokyo
2021
Opening Exhibition II, biscuit gallery, Tokyo
RISING STARS, Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore GINZA ATRIUM, Tokyo
Up_01, Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore GINZA ATRIUM, Tokyo
AWARDS
2024
BUG Art Award: finalist
2020
CAF Award 2020: finalist
FACE 2020 Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Art Award Exhibition: longlisted
2019
Student Selection Exhibition: Encouragement Prize
Kaya art competition: longlisted
Untitled
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2023
[Size] 1620mm × 1303mm
*Commissioned work
Dog or Line
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2021
[Size] 455mm × 530mm
Untitled
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2021
[Size] 455mm × 380mm
Untitled 006
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2021
[Size] 727mm × 606mm
Untitled 009
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2021
[Size] 727mm × 606mm
Untitled
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2021
[Size] 410mm × 318mm
Untitled
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2020
[Size] 410mm × 318mm
No
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2020
[Size] 410mm × 318mm
Fun
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2020
[Size] 333mm × 242mm
Untitled
Acrylic on paper
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2025
Untitled
Acrylic on paper
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse
[Year] 2024
* The copyright belongs the artist. Diversion or quotation without permission is strictly prohibited.