Masaomi Kato

[About my work] As of 2025.07.25
My work is to “draw carefully and beautifully” “huh (laughs).”
It's a little funny, a little cute, and a little weird.
As a TV kid, I often watched variety shows.
Laughing is fun, invigorates, and gives me energy to work hard.
So, I draw so that people looking at the pictures and myself can have fun.
My foundation is to “draw carefully and beautifully” so that “huh (lol)” shines.


[“3 points” and “contrast composition” to create a picture]
① “Japan”
I was born and raised in Japan, and I often deal with familiar customs, culture, and scenery.
Mt. Fuji, cherry blossoms, shrines, festivals, Japanese folktales, comics, anime, TV variety shows, high school girls, etc.
There are times when I like it, but since I'm used to it, I know the atmosphere a lot.
I am particularly influenced by things like “Japanese Folktales” and “Dragon Ball,” which I watched when I was little.
Then, after being a student, I came to know Yamato e, Rimpa school, ink painting, bird and animal character caricatures, etc.

② Picture Diary
There was a book I read when I was in art prep school called “Everyday Composition.”
It's “drawing something you've seen in a day's life.”
The rule is “draw within 15 minutes and don't revise later.”
Somehow I started thinking it was a “picture diary,”
As I work on it, I have a “!” in everyday life or “?” I began to make pictures.
I've been drawing since 1999, and currently 2025, 25 x 365 days = 9125 pictures.
Of course, I'm still drawing one page a day as an “everyday picture diary.”
Incidentally, the size of the picture and the tool is a “pen on postcard-sized paper.”

③ “Desain”
When I combined prep school and university, I studied design for 10 years.
Surface and inner design, how to think about concepts, how to communicate, how to attract, and communicate.
For the time being, I studied at Tokyo University of the Arts, which is the most difficult in Japan, and I must have a “division of design”...
However, I'm not a “designer.”
So, I made it “desain” to include the meaning that I was learning a little bit.

“Contrast configuration”
A method of expression used to enhance the appeal of paintings.
To put it simply, it's “salt in watermelon.”
If saltiness is sprinkled on the sweetness, the sweetness will increase and it will be delicious.
Top and bottom, large and small, horizontal axis and vertical axis, rough and dense, rough and careful, color comparison ratio, etc.
Try combining a “traditional landscape of Mt. Fuji” with a “modern high school girl,”
Try adding “English” to “Japanese picture scroll style,”
When a “contrast composition” is inserted into the picture, a strange flavor comes out and the appeal increases.

The work is created by combining these “3 points” and “contrast composition.”





◎ Awards
2006 TURNER ACRYL AWARD 2005 Student Division Grand Prize
2009 12th Liquitex Biennale Encouragement Award
Selected for the 16th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art in 2011
2012 1st Kawaii+ Grand Prize Exhibition Special Jury Award
2013 TDW ART FAIR 2013 Jury Award
2014 7th “Your Cherry Blossom Color 2014” Picture Expression Category Best Picture Illustration Category Award
Selected for the 2nd TERRADA ART AWARD 2015
2016 CREATIVE HACK AWARD 2016 GRAPHIC CATEGORY AWARD
2017 8th Banhu New Year's Card Design Contest Grand Prize
Selected for the 16th TIS Open Call 2018
Selected for the 6th Tokyo Cover Art Award in 2019
2020 13th Sakura Arts and Culture Support Project Your Cherry Blossom Color 2020 Grand Prize
Selected for the 2021 219th The Choice
2022 Cover Drawing Competition vol.21 Jury Award
2022 14th Adachi UKIYOE Grand Prize Excellence Award
2023 2023 Origin of Beauty Exhibition Encouragement Award
2012 Brillia Art Award Wall 2024 winner

◎ work
2015 Tokuma Shoten “Yomiraku” 2015/1 issue cover illustration
2018 FM802/FM COCOLO DIGMEOUT ART CALENDAR 2019 visual production
Picture production for the 2019 Yamanashi Nichinichi Shimbun 50,000 issue commemorative 30-page advertisement
2020 Shinchosha “Elephant Cow” by Yuka Ishii cover, cover, and book Tobira production
2022 FM802/FM COCOLO DIGMEOUT ART CALENDAR 2023 visual production
Cover, cover, cover, and book cover production for “Tomochika's Thoughts: A Solo Journey” by Shinchosha Tomochika in 2012

◎ Public collections
Fujiyama Museum/ Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi


◎ Activity history
2006 “TURNER ACRYL AWARD 2005” winning work Shinjuku Park Tower Gallery/Tokyo
2009 “12th Liquitex Biennale” Award-Winning Works Exhibition Spiral Garden Aoyama/Tokyo
2010 “SICF11” Spiral Hall Aoyama/Tokyo
2011 “16th Taro Okamoto Contemporary Art Award Exhibition” Kawasaki Taro Museum of Art/Kanagawa
“Mitsubishi Corporation Art Gate Program 10” Mitsubishi Corporation Building Marunouchi, Tokyo
2012 “1st Kawaii+ Grand Prize Exhibition” Spiral Garden Aoyama/Tokyo
“Young Art Taipei 2012” Art Fair Taipei/Taiwan
2013 “Young Art Taipei 2013” Art Fair Taipei/Taiwan
“Fujisan World Cultural Heritage Registration Commemorative Art Auction” Kawaguchiko Music Box Museum, Yamanashi Prefecture
2014 “Dawn” Kato Masaomi Solo Exhibition MDP GALLERY Nakameguro, Tokyo
“JK's Daily Life - Kato Masaomi's Art Exhibition” solo exhibition MAD L Alternative Space Gallery Taipei/Taiwan
2015 “Premonition of Beauty 2015” Group Exhibition Takashimaya Tour/Various Cities
“Nippon Izubyu Tifuru” Kato Masaomi Solo Exhibition MDP GALLERY Nakameguro, Tokyo
2016 “Emonogatari Scenery Tour” Group Exhibition Nihonbashi/Shinjuku Takashimaya, Tokyo
“MEET ART” Group Exhibition, Saison Art Gallery Jingumae, Tokyo
2017 “DENTOU TO GENDAI EXHIBITION” solo exhibition FineArts Masaru Makii Asakusabashi/Tokyo
2018 “ASYAAF 2018” ART FAIR SEOUL/KOREA
“16th TIS Open Call Award Exhibition” Gallery 5610 Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo
2017 “FIND YOUR ART” Group Exhibition MARUEIDO JAPAN Akasaka/Tokyo
“WHAT DO YOU THINK?” Group Exhibition Fukuya Hatchobori Main Store Hatchobori/Hiroshima
2020 “Art Of Giving Vol. 5” Group Exhibition MDP GALLERY Nakameguro, Tokyo
2021 “Art Of Giving Vol. 6” Group Exhibition MDP GALLERY Nakameguro, Tokyo
2022 “ART MART” Group Exhibition MARUEIDO JAPAN Akasaka/Tokyo
2023 “Cover Art Competition Vol. 21 Winners Exhibition” Group Exhibition Gallery House MAYA Kita-Aoyama/Tokyo
2012 “Four Diamonds - 2023 Origin of Beauty Exhibition Encouragement Award Exhibition” Group Exhibition The Origin of Beauty Ginza/Tokyo
2012 “Brillia Art Award Wall 2024” exhibition Brillia Gallery Shinjuku Shinjuku/Tokyo
2025 “Iime Fukurame RS in Nagoya” Group Exhibition Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Store Nagoya/Aichi