Artist & Works

Photo: Matsukage Hiroyuki
Courtesy: Mizuma Art Gallery

Aida Makoto (Artist)

Born 1965 in Niigata. In 1991 he earned a post-graduate degree from the Tokyo University of the Arts. Moving freely to and fro between society and history, across the borders between contemporary and pre-modern, east and west with a body of work that includes pretty young girls, war paintings, and salarymen, Aida's distinctive style featuring bizarre contrasts and scathing critique has earned him a sizeable following among people of all ages. Extensive participation in national and international exhibitions. Primary exhibitions include: “The American Effect: Global Perspectives on the United States, 1990-2003” (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2003), “Roppongi Crossing: New Visions in Contemporary Japanese Art 2004” (Mori Art Museum, 2004), “BELIEF” (Singapore Biennale 2006), “Bye Bye Kitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art” (Japan Society, New York, 2011) and “The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, Rebirth and Apocalypse in Contemporary Art” (The First Kyiv International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine, 2012). His artistic activities are extremely wide-ranged as seen in the involvement in “The Group 1965 (Showa 40 nen kai)” whose members were all born in the year 1965, and in Alternative Puppet Theater “Gekidan☆Shiki” which his wife, also a fellow artist, Okada Hiroko organizes, novel-writing as well as comic-drawing.