ABOUT

MASAYUKI KOSUGE
BIOGRAPY
Born in 1981 in Kanagawa Prefecture, a region next to Tokyo in Japan.
In 2023, he won the ACT Art Award competition Prize, which was selected from among 400 works painted by artist in Japan.
He was diagnosed with an unexplained illness at the age of 17. He was bedridden for about a year because of it.
As a result, he was bedridden for about a year. He repeatedly questioned himself about life on the bed and found faith in the eight million gods as a source of comfort.
The eight million gods are called “Yaoorozunokami” in Japanese.
In Japanese, it is called “Yaoorozunokami,” which means “the ancient Japanese way of thinking about the divine in all things.
At the age of 20, he began to attend a photographer’s school and vigorously photographed nature and people.
The beautiful compositions and human activities that he felt at that time are the source of his inspiration.
He was also diagnosed with an incurable disease at the age of 32. It was a very rare disease and there was a risk of death. He was hospitalized in a ward with lung cancer patients. This experience made him think deeply about life and civilization.
At the age of 33, he made his debut as a picture book author. The title of his book was “LIFE IS”.
Later, while working as a company employee, he became interested in oil painting.
His oil paintings are characterized by a skeptical view of civilization and a spiritual world of life and mythology.
In particular, he wants to question modern civilization by using motifs from ancient Japanese mythology and nature. Based on his near-death experience due to illness and his belief that modern civilization is out of touch with the essence of life, his paintings are based on Japanese paintings in Edo period and feature stories about the activities of modern people. Currently, he works as a company employee and a painter in Tokyo.