Tenmyouya Hisashi is a contemporary artist who has established his own unique style of Neo-Nihonga by reconstructing traditional Japanese painting techniques with a modern sensibility. While including traditional aspects, he boldly breaks away from the common sense and conventions of Nihonga and creates works that incorporate modern themes and social sensitivities.
A Battle between Eccentrics
2025
42 x 29.7 cm
Acrylic on wood
Nine-horned Dragon Goddess
2025
42 x 29.7 cm
Acrylic on wood
The Advent of the Sword God
2025
23.5 x 39.1 cm
Acrylic on paper
The Advent of the Sword God
2025
23.5 x 39.1 cm
Acrylic on paper
Tenmyouya Hisashi
Born in Tokyo in 1966. After working as an art director for a record company, he became active as a contemporary artist. In 2010 he proposed a new Japanese art scheme named “BASARA” which is extravagant and extraordinary and embodies a Samurai aesthetic like “BASARA” in Nanboku dynasty era and “Kabuki-mono” in the end of Sengoku era. He has exhibited in the 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010) among others. Recipient of the “6th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art” (2003) Outstanding performance award.
This exhibition will feature a series of delicately hand-drawn works on the theme of gods and battles. I have created many works on the same theme in the past, but now that we have been living in what has long been called an age without gods, AI is rapidly developing and the singularity that will surpass humans is just around the corner. It will not be long until AI takes over the role of god. Paintings began with the murals in the caves of Lascaux, and then we moved on to photography, computer graphics, and finally to an age where images can be created in a few seconds by AI image generation simply by typing in text. It is precisely because of this current situation that I chose the title of this exhibition to emphasize the warmth of handcraft and the texture of paint, and to mean an analog counterattack against technology.
Tenmyouya Hisashi