Born in 1986 Fukuoka, Japan, Yuki Ideguchi gained his master degree of Japanese Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts, then he started his career in New York. His works are deeply influenced by the Japanese culture and the oriental religious thought, mostly with animals, plants, skulls and currents as artistic elements, leading the audience to probe into the individual soul cosmology.
In order to show the multi-level delicate color, Yuki Ideguchi blends traditional Japanese techniques with contemporary media. In his distinctive practice, he uses animal glue, acrylic and mineral pigments and refers to both classical Japanese wall painting and graffiti art. New York is a watershed between two periods of his distinctive artistic style. The former emphasizes simplicity and exquisiteness of the traditional Japanese art, the latter puts stress on exotic culture impact. His motifs include nature, life and death, religion, folklore and conveys his deep concern for the world. People can realize life is an infinite cycle through his works.
The skeleton always represents the remains of the human body, is regarded as a sign of evil ominous, and is often incarnated as a Death or a ghost. While Yuki Ideguchi employs skulls and bones as his motifs, and tries to break the stereotype of the skeleton. In his works, the skeleton can escape from the restriction of space and time. Beyond the limits of life and death, it explains that life is not immortal, but perpetuate life as a soul.
In the currents series, the turbulent currents reflect the infinite cycle of the universe. Viewers have no idea about the beginning and end of the currents. Through different situations, life will show its own state, as the aspects that make up the universe such as the was and wane of the moon and the flow of the sea.
In the "Even Though the World Has Changed" series, Yuki Ideguchi creates his works with traditional Japanese painting techniques and western newspaper. Perfectly combining oriental skills with western production, along with the American comics style, he creates vibrant and interesting compositions in his works.
Much to everyone’s delight, Yuki Ideguchi had an interview from the British Museum for an exhibition of Katsushika Hokusai, who was well-known for a print series of views of Mt Fuji. They interviewed Yuki Ideguchi as one of successors of Hokusai and they will show the documentary video at an opening reception of the exhibition.
This exhibition mainly displays his paintings and videos. Yuki Ideguchi combines the traditional cultural connotation with multi-media, leading the audience to explore the varied artistic style and the endless life cycle.