Painter. Born in Tokyo in 1969, Yamaguchi grew up in Kiryu city in Gunma prefecture. In 1996 he graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School (Painting Department) with an MA in Oil Painting. In 2013, his book “Hen-na Nihon Bijutsushi” won the 12th Kobayashi Hideo Award.
Besides his bird’s eye view paintings of cities or battlefields, he traverses a variety of methods of expression including sculpture, manga and installation.
His major solo exhibitions include ‘TOKIORE(I)MIX” (Maison Hermès 8F Le Forum, Tokyo) and “Yamaguchi Akira: Stepping Back to Seek the Underneath” (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito) amongst others.
He has further developed the wide range of his practice through public artworks at locations including Narita International Airport, on Tokyo’s Fukutoshin Line at Nishi-Waseda station, and at Fujisan World Heritage Center in Yamanashi Prefecture as its symbolic central painting. He has also created illustrative work and cover art for a variety of serialized newspaper stories, novels and so forth, continuing his prolific practice across a broad range of fields.
Museum Collections:
Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan
The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, Japan
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan
The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka, Japan
Takamatsu Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan
Equine Museum of Japan, Kanagawa, Japan
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Mead Art Museum, Amherst, U.S.A.
Artwork
Horse Stable, 2001
Ippuku Electric Pole, 2014
Setting up a Thousand Senju Kannon, 2009
Shitenno [Four Heavenly Kings] “Komokuten”, 2006
