Keiki Yamada

Painter/Artist

Born in Tomakomai, Hokkaido in 1978.

1999

• Group exhibition "011 Exhibition" (Key gallery/Seika Gallery/Gallery Kubota/Gallery Ono II, Ginza/Kyobashi)

Graduated from Tama Art University in 2002, majoring in oil painting.

2004 Graduated from Tama Art University Graduate School of Fine Arts.

2006

• Solo exhibition "Existence of the Sky" (Sapporo Clock Tower Gallery, Sapporo)

• Solo exhibition "Being and Empty" (Gallery Tsubaki GT2, Kyobashi)

2007

• Solo exhibition "Mr.Watermelon" (Gallery TsubakiGT2, Kyobashi)

2010

• Hirotaka Yamada solo exhibition (Gallery Kamefuku, Kunitachi)

2012

• Solo exhibition "Slow time" (Gallery Coexist Tokyo, Kiba)

• Solo exhibition "Speaking Still Lifes" (Bunkamura box gallery, Shibuya)

• Group exhibition "2:46 and Thereafter" (Edison Place Gallery, Washington D.C., Washington DC)

• Group exhibition "Each Form Seen Through Art Materials" (Ueno Royal Museum, Ueno)

• Group exhibition "It's ART O'CLOCK" (CNIT Paris La Défens/ GalleryCoexist Tokyo booth, Paris)

• Group exhibition: "Dandans, a collective of emerging Japanese artists" (Browse & Darby Gallery, London)

2014

• ─Modern and Contemporary─ Art Fair Tokyo 2014 (Tokyo International Forum/Shihodo Gallery, Yurakucho)

• Hirotaka Yamada Art Exhibition (Seibu Ikebukuro Main Store, Ikebukuro)

• Group exhibition "Thinking of ENERGY" from the experience of FUKUSHIMA (German Foreign Ministry, Berlin)

2015

• Hiroki Yamada - Painted Time - Art Exhibition (Isetan Shinjuku Main Art Gallery, Shinjuku)

• -Precious Time- Art Fair Tokyo 2015 (Tokyo International Forum/Shihodo Gallery, Yurakucho)

• -Existence and Memory- ART TAIPEI 2015 (Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Building 1, Taipei)

• -Existence and Memory- Hirotaka Yamada Exhibition (Seibu Ikebukuro Main Store, Ikebukuro)

• Group exhibition “Dandans – Une nouvelle génération d'artistes Japonais” (Galerie BOA, Paris)

2016

• -Memories of the Same Era- Art Fair Tokyo 2016 (Tokyo International Forum/Shihodo Gallery, Yurakucho)

• Group exhibition “ART TAIPEI 2016 Ryuzaburo Umehara x Hiroki Yamada/Insho Domoto x Yukinori Yamamoto” (Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, Taipei)

2017

• Group exhibition "ART FAIR TOKYO 2017 Domoto Insho x Yamada Hirotaka x Yamamoto Yukyo" (Tokyo International Forum/Shihodo Gallery, Yurakucho)

• Group exhibition "ART TAIPEI 2017 Tadashi Asai, Kinichiro Ishikawa, Hirotaka Yamada, Yukio Yamamoto" (Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, Taipei)

2018

• -Dialogue with Memory- (Bunkamura box gallery, Shibuya)

2019

• Group exhibition "ART TAIPEI 2019 Yamada Hirotaka, Yamamoto Yukinori, Akama Chiho" (Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, Taipei)

2020

• Solo exhibition "Yamada Hirotaka: What We Have Seen from Our Time at Home - Era with COVID-19" (Shihodo Gallery, Ginza)

• Solo exhibition "Yamada Hirotaka Exhibition ~ Arcade Street Scenery ~" (Shihodo Gallery, Osaka)

• Solo exhibition “Yamada Hiroki Exhibition ~ Dining room ~” (Kahoubo & other Art things, Taipei)

2022

• Solo exhibition "Tobi Art Fair 2022 Yamada Hiroki - Origin" (Tokyo Art Club/Shihodo Gallery, Shinbashi)

• Solo Exhibition: Hiroki Yamada - Annunciation (Shihodo Gallery, Ginza/Osaka)

2023

• Hiroki Yamada solo exhibition - Dreaming of a Grand Tour - (Sendai Mitsukoshi)

He has always used old memories and episodes from his childhood as motifs for his paintings, but as a child he had an encounter that made him decide to become an artist.
As an only child, I had a few art books and an encyclopedia as people to talk to and consult with. The encyclopedia, who knows everything, was also one of the things I enjoyed about going to my grandmother's house. Among them, I often see Leonardo's Vitruvian Man. It was a special memory that stayed with me. Perhaps this is where my love for Renaissance and Medieval paintings began.
I wondered what life was like there. I wanted to go there someday. The feeling gradually grew stronger, and my thoughts changed to how to paint this picture.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us many things, but it was surprising that it has also rekindled this passion. "I want to see Gabriel again!" I met him in Italy before the pandemic.
In my solo exhibition last year, I painted a scene of the Annunciation without Gabriel or Mary. This is similar to the backgroundless still lifes I have been consistently creating, where I don't paint what I really want to paint, but confine it to space. With this technique, I wanted to keep the beautiful angel in my heart without painting it, but as the work reached its climax, I started to think that I wanted to paint only the angel.
After that, I researched the feathers of birds of prey as an image of Gabriel and decided to draw an owl, but I also received a request to "see an angel," so I started working on it. The image of the space I draw is a collection of things I have remembered, and it is filled with various landscapes. After actually drawing various things, I settled on a dark background.
Yes, and then I realized that I would like to visit her again after the coronavirus pandemic. I even thought that I would like to live nearby. All I can see now is the scenery of Tuscany.