christian berstart brut
présente
SearchClose christian berstart brut
MenuClose

Yuichiro Ukai, a member of the renowned Yamanami workshop in Japan, is a passionate illustrator: he strives to draw, from memory, characters from the manga world, etchings, and from encyclopedic works on Reptiliomorpha. These serials or polyptych drawings, often overloaded and of a breathtaking precision, are singularly reminiscent of the triptychs of the Flemish primitive, Jérôme Bosch. Exhibited for the first time in France at the gallery in 2019, his work is now very popular, especially as its rarity only sharpens this appeal.

yuichiro ukai - © yamanami, christian berst — art brut
Date 1995 —
Country Japan

Upon graduating from high school, Yuichiro joined Atelier Yamanami in 2014 and involved in cleaning parks and train stations in the community. During recess, he looks at his favorite field guides and draws pictures. He likes animal guides, insect guides, dinosaur guides, anime character guides, and recently Japanese monster guides, and these creatures are lively depicted in his drawings. Yuichiro’s drawing method is unique. He draws one motif, a dinosaur or a skeleton, for example, and then draws dinosaur or skeleton one after another as they make a chain. The movement and expression of each object are subtly different from each other, forming a herd, and they appear to move across time and space. As he repeatedly draws motifs, the drawing acquires depth and time, and it often continues over multiple papers.

Not only drawings, Yuichiro also ventures out to three-dimensional arts, molding miniature dinosaurs and skeletons. Just like the Japanese candy arts, he stretches limbs and tails from a lump of clay, meticulously shaping the object.

It seems that Yuichiro loves these strange creatures and tries to give life to them. Then, we wonder if the boy who sometimes appears in the picture is Yuichiro himself. Yuichiro Ukai gleefully draws fantastic scenes in which dinosaurs, skeletons, ancient Japanese warriors, and monsters rampantly roam at will. 

Artwork
Please contact us to inquire about the available works.
untitled - © christian berst — art brut
untitled, 2012
21.26 x 14.96 in
Catalog
Japan Brut the moon, the sun, yamanami
Catalogue published to mark the exhibition *Japan brut: the moon, the sun, yamanami*, christian berst art brut, Paris, 2019. - © christian berst — art brut

Preface : Yukiko Koide & Raphaël Koenig
Foreword : Christian Berst.
Catalog published to mark the exhibition Japan Brut : the moon, the sun, yamanami, from August 31st to October 5th, 2019.

Exhibitions
Death salon 2
curated by Laurent Quénéhen, the bridge by christian berst. From February 13 to March 19, 2021.
japon brut
the moon, the sun, yamanami, at the gallery. From August 31 to October 5, 2019.
exhibition view of *salon de la mort 2* curator : Laurent Quenehen, the bridge by christian berst, Paris, 2021 - © christian berst — art brut
exhibition view of *japan brut : the moon, the sun, yamanami*, christian berst art brut, paris, 2019. - © christian berst art brut, photo: elena groud, christian berst — art brut
exhibition view of *japan brut : the moon, the sun, yamanami*, christian berst art brut, paris, 2019. - © christian berst art brut, photo: elena groud, christian berst — art brut
Press review
Le salon de la mort ll
La Rédaction, Parisart. February 22, 2021.
Christian Berst : dialogues with art brut
Catherine Millet, Artpress. October 23, 2020.
outsider art of the moment: 66 exhibitors, 7 countries, 1 fair
Holland Cotter, The New York Times. January 18, 2020.
Collections
Carmen and Daniel Klein collection
Switzerland
Antoine Frérot collection
France
Emmanuelle and Guy Delcourt collection
France
American Folk Art Museum
United States
Yuichiro Ukaï

You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.