YUICHI HIRAKO

Perennial 03
Born in Okayama, Japan in 1982. Graduated from Wimbledon College of Arts (UK) in 2006. His starting point was the discomfort he felt about the difference between his memories and experiences of untouched “nature” surrounding him in his childhood, and the artificial environment of parks and trees of urban areas which are also recognized as “nature” by people. This led him to creating works reflecting on the relationship between human and nature. Houseplants, pets, indoor flower arrangements in vases are some of the wide varieties of cultures that have been developed to enjoy simulated nature in human life. They appear in Hirako’s works sometimes as critique, sometimes as affection. There is a person with a plant head that frequently appears in Hirako’s works and is a projection of himself, somehow represents the image of the friction between human and nature.Hirako received ""Shell Art Award” in 2009, “Tokyo Wonder Wall Prize” of Tokyo Wonder Wall Award in 2010, and the “VOCA Encouragement Prize” (Ueno Royal Museum) in 2013. He has held numerous domestic and overseas exhibitions including solo exhibitions “project N71 Hirako Yuichi” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2018), and “Leftover” (Dai-Ichi Life Gallery, 2018). His works are also in the collections of Lisser Art Museum (The VandenBroek Foundation, Netherlands), AkzoNobel Art Foundation (Netherlands), and the Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Company (Tokyo, Japan).