Born in 1966 in Tokyo, Tenmyouya initially worked as an art director at a record music company. He later began his career as a self-taught fine artist. While utilizing a technique of traditional Japanese-style painting (Nihonga), he incorporates genre motifs of contemporary society and street culture. He calls this unique style Neo Nihonga.
Neo Nihonga draws inspirations and motifs of artistic expressions from across the world and imbues in it a strong degree of contemporaneity, social consciousness, and critical thinking. In recent years, Tenmyouya has expanded his artistic approach to include extravagant and dynamic aestheticism of the samurai-termed basara (“outlaw culture”) that, he believes, underlies Japanese culture throughout its long history, reaching beyond the stereotypically more subdued and austere images of Japan according to the notions of wabi, sabi, and Zen.
Some of the major group exhibitions in which Tenmyouya has participated include: The 17th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (2010); Bye Bye Kitty!!! (2011) and Garden of Unearthly Delights (2014), Japan Society Gallery, New York, US, among many others.
Artwork
Japanese Spirit, 1997
Robot-Myouou, 2015
Kylin, 2004
Fighting-Spirit, 2008
