Hisashi Tenmyouya  (Japanese, 1966) 

Hisashi Tenmyouya (Japanese, b.1966), is a Japanese artist famous for his fusion of Fine Art and street art. He began his career as an art director and graphic designer at a record label, and did illustrations for underground magazines. Hisashi developed his Neo-Nihonga style (Neo-Japanese Painting) by combining Japanese painting methods and motifs with contemporary and traditional iconography. Working predominantly in gold leaf and acrylic, his figurative paintings often center on warriors, animals, weaponry, and machinery. He frequently combines these themes to create his unique contemporary works like RX-78-2 Kabuki-mono, or the series Japanese Spirit. He is also known for using figures from the traditional Japanese painting style Ukiyo-e (or pictures of the floating world), a style which acts as a visual escape from the mundane activities of everyday life, depicting the frivolous pleasures of the middle class. Since the early 2000s, Hisashi’s works have been exhibited all over the world. His works melding American culture with Japanese motifs were first exhibited in the United States in the 2003 exhibition, The American Effect, at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. He has also contributed to contemporary art theory in his book BASARA Japanese Art Theory Crossing Borders: From Jomon Pottery to Decorated Trucks. He currently lives and works in Saitama, Japan, and is represented by the Mizuma Art Gallery in Tokyo.