Akihiko Inoue

Since mid-1990s, with interests in fundamental premises of human existence such as water, gravity, ground and roof, he has worked over several genres, including drawing, painting, installation and site-specific construction as well as art-projects in the local context.
1995-2021, Professor of Visual Planning, Kyoto City University of Arts, Japan.
2006-07 with grants from the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists, he lived and worked in Paris.

left：Whereabouts of water (240x302mm 2021)
right：Whereabouts of water (257x182mm、2012)

Yu Hirai

Yu Hirai creates paintings on the theme of how universal human nature is revealed in child's play, and photography inspired by the story of her own family. Yu Hirai left Japan at the age of 20 and moved to Europe. From 1985-88, she studied drawing at La Cambre in Brussels. After that she lived and worked in Barcelona, then in Berlin where she started to work with photography. In 1999 she took part in the residency programme at Light Work (Syracuse University/USA). After a second residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin/Ireland), she received a bursary from UNESCO Aschberg for photography in Mexico. In 2002-03, she was a resident at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Since then she has continued to live and work in Paris. Since 1988, she has regularly presented her work in solo and group shows, and at many international art festivals. Her book of drawings “Vestiaire de l’enfance” was published by CHIBI in France in 2021. Her photography series Sleeping Memory was chosen as a Jury's Selection of the Prix Virginia 2022. Since 2023 member of IKG- internationales Künstlergremium.

Left：Hopscotch(oil on canvas 460x550mm 2023)
right：Red shoes(oil on canvas 410x330mm 2023)