Yutaka Aoki

Yutaka Aoki expands the scope of painting through an examination of the relationship between painting and the surrounding world, and of the many possibilities that are born from that exchange. Employing multiple techniques, Aoki’s gaze is always on the study of light and its three-dimensional quality. Supplemented by transformations engendered by specific elements in the environment, including the passage of time, the presence of an audience, and the nature of the exhibition space, light imbues his work with an organic richness, providing a visual experience that awakens the natural human senses desensitized by our increasingly digital lives.

Yutaka Aoki was born in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, in 1985, and is currently based in Tokyo. In 2008, he graduated from Tokyo Zokei University’s Department of Fine Arts, and received a Master of Fine Arts from the same institution in 2010. He has presented major solo exhibitions which include “multiprime” (hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, 2011), “OUTER ROOM, INNER GARDEN” (Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, 2012), and “Mouvements” (Sprout Curation, Tokyo, 2014). Notable group exhibitions include “The Way of Painting” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2014), “CHOKOKU: Modern Japanese Sculpture from its Beginning to 1980’s, Works from the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo” (Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, 2019), and “A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection” (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2024). In addition to the collection of the Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Aoki’s works have been acquired by the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection.

【Solo Exhibitions】
2025
“U” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2023
“Levels of Intimacy” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2022
“Walking Bride” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2021
“Treading Along the Window” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2020
“Vision, Touch” sequence MIYASHITA PARK, Tokyo, Japan
“INTO THE AIR” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2019
“Today's” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2017
“Without Blinking” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2014
“Mouvements” Sprout Curation, Tokyo, Japan
2013
“BREAK THROUGH IN A GREY ROOM” Sprout Curation, Tokyo, Japan
2012
“OUTER ROOM, INNER GARDEN” Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
2011
“multiprime” hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan


【Selected Group Exhibitions】
2024
“A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection” Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
“Fellow Travelers of the Canvas A Perspective on Contemporary Art of Japan from the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection” Yamagata Museum of Art, Yamagata, Japan
2023
“CAMK Collection Exhibition Vol.7: Memory Storage for the Future” Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
2021
“Meta-materialism -Beyond the Material-” Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store, Main Building 6F, Contemporary Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019
“CHOKOKU: Modern Japanese Sculpture from its Beginning to 1980’s, Works from the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo” Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
2017
“CSP4” Museum of the Tokyo Zokei University, Tokyo, Japan
2016
“Collection Exhibition” Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
“ZOKEI NEXT50” 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
“VOCA 2016” The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
“Holbein Scholarship Selected Exhibition VOL.3” REIJINSHA GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2015
“Winter Exhibition” Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
“NEW BALANCE” XYZ collective, Tokyo, Japan
2014
“The Way of Painting” Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2013
“rgb+ exhibition vol.5” Tokyo Zokei University ZOKEI gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2012
“rgb+ exhibition vol.4” Tokyo Zokei University ZOKEI gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“Pandemonium” XYZ collective, Tokyo, Japan
2011
“rgb+ exhibition vol.3” Tokyo Zokei University ZOKEI gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“See me in the dream” Sprout Curation, Tokyo, Japan
“MAGIC BLACK” hiromiyoshii roppongi, Tokyo, Japan
2010
Tokyo Zokei University Painting Building Closing Exhibition “camaboco” Former Painting Building, Tokyo Zokei University, Tokyo, Japan
“Painting on the move” hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan
2009
“output” Tokyo Zokei University ZOKEI gallery, Tokyo, Japan
“Arts Challenge 2009” Aichi Arts Center, Aichi, Japan
2008
“Yutaka Aoki / Nobuyasu Sato” hiromiyoshii, Tokyo, Japan
2007
“Samayoibito” Space Kura, Kyoto, Japan


【Public Collections】
Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto
Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, Tokyo, Japan