Biography:

In an age in which a wide range of expressive mediums are available, the skilled artist Nobuya Hoki remains faithful to painting and drawing when exploring the possibilities of the “art of lines” in oils, pencils and other painting/drawing mediums. Besides his masterful technique, what makes Hoki’s work unique is his innovative approach to composition. For instance, his portraits are often formatted horizontally, which is traditionally and commonly a landscape format. Another example is how he brings opposite elements to co-exist in one artwork, such as casting “manga”-like cute characters in sophisticated and faithfully depicted natural landscapes. Such experiments can be interpreted as his discreet attempt to establish a new genre in painting, a genre that challenges the stereotypes, the landscapes and the portraiture. The fine and subtle ? though sometimes bold ? lines in combination with daring composition creates peculiar depth of field while maintaining the flat quality of his work. Having experimented with lines so dedicatedly, Hoki lets his drawings (that were exhibited as part of "Roppongi Crossing: New Visions in Contemporary Japanese Art 2004" at the Mori Art Museum) clearly express his utter confidence in establishing a future form of painting. His first overseas solo show took place at the I-20 Gallery, New York in December 2004.

Exhibitions:

Main Exhibition
2007 Painting as Forest: Artist as Thinker, Okazaki City Museum, Aichi
2006 rapt! - 20 contemporary artists from Japan, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
2005 TARO NASU GALLERY, Tokyo (also 2002)
2005 I-20 Gallery, New York
OFFICINA ASIA, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna
Roppongi Crossing: New Visions of Japanese Artists 2004, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
2003 New Generation Japanese Painters, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima