Wataru Yamakami
ENJP
山上 渡
Wataru Yamakami
1981年高知県生まれ。16歳から東京の路上でグラフィティを描き始める。18歳でヒッチハイクの旅に、約4年間、日本、タイ、インド、南米諸国を旅しながら作品を制作。 インドでは約1年間、各地を転々としながら宗教と儀式を学ぶ。その後シャーマニズムに興味を持ち、ペルー、ボリビア、チリ、アルゼンチンを旅し、ペルーのクスコで初の個展を開催。「増殖と変容」「境界の接続」「接続点の探求」をテーマに、この問いに満ちた世界との関係性を作品にしている。 2009年第12回岡本太郎現代芸術賞特別賞、2013年東京ミッドタウンアワード準グランプリ、オーディエンス賞受賞。2019年には文化庁新進芸術家海外研修員としてインドネシア、ジョグジャカルタに滞在。インドネシアを代表するアーティスト、ヘリ・ドノが受け入れ先となり、2020年、ヘリ・ドノが設立したスペース「Studio Karahan」にて個展を開催。2022年、水力発電所跡を利用した富山下山発電所美術館にて個展「セカイノセカイ -風をあつめて、そらへはなつ-」を開催。12m×7mの巨大な絵画を展示し、風によって動くインスタレーションを行った。
Born in Kochi Prefecture in 1981, Wataru Yamakami began painting graffiti on the streets of Tokyo from the age of 16. At the age of 18, Yamakami embarked on a hitchhiking trip and traveled around Japan, Thailand, India and South American countries for about four years while creating art works. In India, he spent about a year moving from place to place studying religion and rituals. He became interested in shamanism and traveled around Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, and held his first solo exhibition in Cusco, Peru. The origin of Yamakami’s themes “proliferation and transformation”, “connection of boundaries”, and “exploration of connection points” goes back to his encounters with shamans, indigenous peoples, and hippies. For Yamakami, the act of painting and creation is an attempt to connect this world full of questions with Yamakami himself. He won Special Award, The 12 th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art in 2009 and Runner-up Prize and Audience Award, Tokyo Midtown Award in 2013. In 2019, he received a grant from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs for Upcoming Artists and stayed in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Heri Dono, a renowned artist representing Indonesia, was hosting Yamakami. In 2020, a solo exhibition was held at the space, Studio Karahan established by Heri Dono. In 2022, he held a solo exhibition World of the World -Gathering wind, to send off into the sky- at the Nizayama Forest Art Museum, Toyama in Japan which used to be a former hydroelectric power plant. He exhibited a giant painting with the size of 12m x 7m which is the installation moved by the wind.