Artist, born in Tokyo in 1976. Moved to Turkey when he was a child due to his father's job transfer, where he learned oil painting from a local artist. After graduating from an art college in Tokyo, he worked for an apparel company designing T-shirts prints, but later went freelance which started his career as an artist. Initially, Yu created artworks in a variety of art styles, but in 2014, he focused on released artworks composed entirely of black and white lines, which became his signature style. The motifs he chooses for his works comes from movies, art, and music that he encountered during and after his childhood, and are strongly influenced by American 90's culture.
His style received widespread recognition when it was featured on the cover of the Japanese magazine "POPEYE", and since then, he has been releasing a steady stream of artwork productions and collaborations with famous brands in Japan as well as abroad. In 2019, he held a solo exhibition named "Express More with Less", which focused on his shift from drawing on paper to painting on canvas. The following year, he attracted a lot of attention with his exhibition "The Last Supper" held at Gallery SAI in Shibuya, Tokyo. Since then, he has continued to garner attention both in Japan and abroad, including solo exhibitions in Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as participation in the Chinese art fair "WEST BUND".

Yu Nagaba

Japanese

Main

Artist

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Great Balls of Fire