Artist Interviews

O Come sages, monsters, and me too! Welcome to the Dragon’s Palace of Reiwa (part 2) – Interview with Nihonga artist Rie Saito

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Interview with Nihonga artist, Rie Saito. Please enjoy reading the second half of this interview by the FFD editorial team! Read Interview (part 1) here Interview with Nihonga artist Rie Saito (part 2) One day, an image of a kappa with a sushi on its head appeared in my mind You’re well known for painting yokai monsters and mermaids. Can you tell us about the story behind that? While preparing for college entrance exams, I was solely focused on my exam sketches. Exam sketches test your ability to make realistic drawings of what’s put in front of you, which was completely different from what I wanted to draw. Once I … Read more

The boy who preferred to draw than to speak went on to become a popular artist – Special feature: Artist interview with Yuki Saito (part 1)

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Interview with artist Yuki Saito. Please enjoy reading about Yuki Saito’s life, which is as unique as his art. Interview by the FFD editorial team!   Interview with artist Yuki Saito. The boy who preferred to draw than to speak went on to become a popular artist (part 1) On noticing the difference between a picture and a work of art Thank you for your time today. I’d like to start by asking when you first encountered paintings. I’ve been looking forward to this question! I don’t remember much from my childhood. My parents told me that I was the kind of kid who would watch TV and doodle on the … Read more

A four-time college entry challenger finds the sparkle of a dedicated person – Interview with Nihonga artist Kazusa Anazawa

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Interview with Nihonga artist, Kazusa Anazawa. Please enjoy reading this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with Nihonga artist Kazusa Anazawa Discovering the joy of drawings through Leo Lionni’s Little Blue and Little Yellow. Thank you for your time today. Can you tell me about your first encounter with drawing? I’ve been drawing pictures since my preschool days. Of course, back then I was drawing with crayons, not doing Nihonga paintings. Why did you start drawing? I’m not sure if it was something that made me start drawing, but one day, my mother bought me a picture book by Leo Lionni, titled Ao-kun to Kiiro-chan (Little Blue and Little … Read more

Creating in the process of living and decaying – Special feature: Artist interview with Yui Koyanagi (part 1)

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Interview with a popular copperplate engraver, Yui Koyanagi. Please enjoy reading the first half of this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with artist Yui Koyanagi (part 1) Drawing anything and everything in front of me Thank you for your time today. Could you tell us about what got you started in painting? I don’t remember the exact event that got me into painting, but as a child I was always drawing. I used to draw on the front and back of flyers since pre-school. Although I didn’t know it at the time, my parents actually kept those drawings in a box for me.  In elementary school, I was … Read more

The Cedar tree is like a grandfather to me, it’s why I paint trees – Interview with Nihonga artist Masami Shitara (part 2)

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Interview with Nihonga artist, Masami Shitara. Please enjoy reading part 2 of this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with Nihonga artist Masami Shitara (part 2) Setback at the first solo exhibition What were you working on after moving to Tokyo? I immediately started working at an art supply store inside an art college prep school in Ikebukuro. The people working there were all aspiring artists, and more or less in the same boat as me. It was easy to make friends there, and I really enjoyed discussing art and painting with my colleagues. Soon after turning 24, I started bringing my portfolio to art galleries. Once I found … Read more

The boy who preferred to draw than to speak went on to become a popular artist – Special feature: Artist interview with Yuki Saito (part 2)

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Interview with artist Yuki Saito. Please enjoy reading the second half of this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with artist Yuki Saito. The boy who preferred to draw than to speak went on to become a popular artist (part 2) Saito’s drawings are extraordinary, but his oil paintings are devastating I passed the first part of the examination for Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts. Founded in 1887, it’s Japan’s only national comprehensive university of the arts, and the best fine arts university in Japan), which was the drawing part. But I failed the second part, which was the oil painting section. The same thing happened when I took … Read more

“At first, my art was solely for the hospital patients.” – Interview with artist, Yuki Shogaki, on drawing animal songs

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Interview with artist, Yuki Shogaki, on drawing animal songs.Please enjoy reading this interview by Imoko Ichinose. Interview with ar,st Yuki Shogaki, on drawing animal songs Immersed in sports until getting dark tan lines and playing in a band during the school years Thank you for taking the time for this interview today. You’re an artist known for drawing animal songs. Have you always been interested in animals, art and music from an early age? I grew up as the middle child of three siblings, in Minoo city, Osaka. As a child, I was always chasing and joining my older brother in the mountains to play. Perhaps that’s why I’m drawn … Read more

Creating in the process of living and decaying – Special feature: Artist interview with Yui Koyanagi (part 2)

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Interview with popular copperplate engraver, Yui Koyanagi. Please enjoy reading the second half of this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with artist Yui Koyanagi (part 2) The flightless butterfly flies One recurring theme we see in your art is the “six-winged butterfly”. Whenever I see it, I wonder where the inspiration came from.  I created that out of my desire to describe what I was going through. I was frustrated not being able to become the woman, the person, and the artist I’d longed to be. The six-winged butterfly was born out of that internal conflict. The butterfly has such beautiful wings, but having too many wings can … Read more