1964 Born in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan


1991 Obtained BA, Tokyo University of the Arts, Major in Nihonga

Lives and works in Ibaraki, Japan

Compared with acrylic or oil painting materials, the Japanese pigments used in Nihonga are not only complex but also difficult to be effectively used in abstraction. It is this complexity that gives the genre called Nihonga its captivating allure, and an emerging school of contemporary Japanese painters is bringing this centuries-old tradition, previously leaning heavily on figurative painting, into the 21st century with bold colors and striking abstractions. Masanori MAEDA is one of the pioneers.

The prestigious Tokyo Art University is recognized as the most difficult art university to be admitted to in Japan, its glittering alumni essentially comprise the modern art history of Japan since the Meiji Period. Maeda graduated from this university and won the Ataka Prize. The artist’s early figurative works are quiet and implicit, the simple colors have the slightest changes, the glimmer of time is attached to the depicted still life, and the sight is kept in an eternal moment for a long time. In recent years, Maeda has renewed his focus on abstraction, a style of painting that he had always wished to paint, inspired by the simplicity of the Mono-ha movement and the pine trees of the legendary Medieval Japanese painter Hasegawa Tohaku. His brushstrokes reveal a tension in the void, which contains hidden unknowns, as if it is the sensibility honed in the cold and windy winter, serenity and gracefulness. Maeda tries to capture the superposition between “visible and invisible” in the image. The elements of life and death, pain and happiness are juxtaposed, once forgotten, the audience can enter another realm of transcendence, tranquility, and power.

Maeda has won many awards, including the Ataka Prize of the Tokyo University of the Arts, the Fuirann Award for Best Artwork, and the second prize of the Chicago International Art Competition. His works have been exhibited at major international art fairs and successfully auctioned at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. His works were collected by institutions such as Ryumon Temple Collection in Tokyo, Tokyo University of the Arts.