Ebosi Yuasa

Positioning himself as “Taisho-born third-rate artist Yebosi Yuasa (1924–1987)” out of a yearning to inhabit the same period as his favorite painters, Ebosi Yuasa produces paintings in the Surrealist style of the era. Explaining that “hiding myself in an imaginary setting is the best way to do what I want,” Yuasa liberates himself from the contemporary art context to present his works, providing occasional updates to the chronology of his alter ego’s career. Insinuating this cleverly crafted “fib” into the cracks of history, he stirs up the history of art, and conventional values.

The real Ebosi Yuasa had an unconventional start to his painting career, taking a job in finance on graduation before turning to art when the company folded soon thereafter. Developing a love for surrealism after gaining knowledge of it through the writing of Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, who was pivotal in introducing the genre to Japan, he developed a technique that involved making small, 5 cm-square collages using motifs cut from newspapers. Reexamining the value of information from the past and blurring the boundary between historical fact and creative practice are now also the hallmarks of his painting production.

GHQ PORTRAITS (2017), the work that shaped the creative contours of the fictional Yebosi Yuasa, consists of repeated portraits of postwar Occupation troops, painted on 150 Japanese roof tiles. What began as an impulse to paint on tiles, ended up further fleshing out Yebosi’s biography, thanks to the historical existence of an actual culture of such portrayals of army servicemen. Thus in Yuasa’s works, though the desire to paint invariably takes precedence, there is an evident flexibility that allows for a little fun within imaginary scenarios.

Depicting a woman engaged in some task in a bizarre machine room, Female worker (2016) takes its inspiration from Widow and Temptation by actual Surrealist painter Ichiro Fukuzawa (1898–1992), under whom Yebosi is deemed to have studied. This absurd scene with its double image of the woman, the plans in her hands resembling a slice of meat, the smoking apparatus behind her, and so on, is portrayed in the palette of the period. Whether this painting has a place in the legitimate lineage of Surrealism, or is the work of one of history’s losers, inexplicably omitted from art historical evaluation, is unclear. In 2018 Yuasa received the Koji Kinutani Award, recognizing his unique concept of the emerging footprints of a painter with an opaque background story, who may well have existed, and his commitment to swimming against the contemporary tide by choosing to work in figurative painting.

Details are coming to light even now of a fictional life that came to a close at the age of 63, through more recent works such as the epic Dream (2021), depicting Yebosi’s formative experiences on the home front at Japan's defeat; and series of abstract paintings (2023) produced in the United States in the 1950s. Envisioning later generations caught up in his artistic intrigue, Ebosi Yuasa continues a creative career that spans past and present, fiction and reality.

BIOGRAPHY

1983Born in Chiba, Japan.

2005Graduated from the economics department, Toyo University.
Started working at a commodity futures trading company, which went bankrupt half a year later. That was the turning point to decide to become an artist.

2008Graduated from the painting course, Toyo Institute of Art and Design.
Lives and works in Chiba, Japan

Solo Exhibitions

2025Ebosi Yuasa｜Sea of Mud/ Clod of Mud, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo

2024Yebosi Yuasa Centennial Exhibition, Yoshiaki Inoue Gallery, Osaka

2023at the end, Yoshiaki Inoue Gallery, Osaka

2019Spectral Intrusions, Akio Nagasawa Gallery Aoyama, Tokyo
Meditations on Equestrian Feats, Ginza Tsutaya Books Art Wall Gallery, Tokyo
Prapagon Horse, EUKARYOTE , Tokyo

2014TWS-Emerging 2014: Newspaper Collage Project, Tokyo Wonder Site Shibuya, Tokyo

2013GEISAI#19 Gabriel Ritter Prize “Ebosi Yuasa Solo Exhibition”, Hidari Zingaro, Tokyo

Group Exhibitions

2025MOT Collection 30th Anniversary Exhibit Multiple Self-portraits, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Layers of Accumulated Time: depicting the world we live in, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Ishikawa, Japan

2024The Constitution of Japan 2024, Mujin-to Production/Misa Shin Gallery, Tokyo
Fukuzawa Re:birth: Ichiro Fukuzawa x Kota Hirakawa, Ebosi Yuasa, Etsu Egami, Tomioka city museum / Fukuzawa Ichiro memorial gallery, Gunma, Japan
Gallery selection: Mark Manders, Thomas Ruff, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ebosi Yuasa, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
Revealed –3 private collection–, Yokohama Civic Art Gallery Azamino, Kanagawa, Japan
ONE SINGLE BOOK, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
Does the Future Sleep Here?–Revisiting the museum’s response to contemporary art after 65 years, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

2023Yuta Nakamura｜Ebosi Yuasa: Object Lessons, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
Yambaru Art Festival 2022-2023, Oogimi Village Former Shioya Elementary School, Okinawa, Japan
Collection Exhibition 4th Term 2022: Using Materials in Various Ways to Create Artworks, Takamatsu Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan

2022Alter Ego, Noblesse Collection, Seoul
Paprika, EACH MODERN, Taipei, Taiwan
VOCA (The Vision of Contemporary Art) 2022, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo
Takamatsu Art Annual vol. 10: There Is No Boundaries Here. /?, Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, Japan
ACT (Artists Contemporary TOKAS) Vol. 4: Approach to Alternative Image, Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo, Tokyo
MODE SURREAL A Crazy Love for Wearing, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo

2021CADAN ROPPONGI presented by Audi, Roppongi Hills Hills Café/Space, Tokyo
Still Life, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo

2020Deep Forest, Yoshiaki Inoue Gallery, Osaka
3331 ART FAIR 2020, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo

2019Collectors’ Collective Vol.1, MEDEL GALLERY SHU, Tokyo
Mr. I Exhibition: Today’s Art 2020 All First Time, Tomioka city museum / Fukuzawa Ichiro memorial gallery, Gunma, Japan
Tokyo Independent 2019, Chinretsuukan Gallery (The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts), Tokyo
The Premium Heisei Show, THE Blank GALLERY, Tokyo

2018Shell Art Award 2018”, The National Art Center, Tokyo
Healthcare of Purplume University Attached Museum, Umetsu Hall, Hitachiota City Local Museum, Ibaraki
Rokko Meets Art 2018, Mt. Rokko, Hyogo, Japan
Multi Shutter, EUKARYOTE , Tokyo
Barrak Independents, BARRAK, Okinawa, Japan

2017Open Call for Art Project Ideas 2017, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
Ground under, Sezon Art Gallery, Tokyo
Nakanojo Biennale 2017, Nakanojo-machi, Gunma, Japan
The 7th New Artist Exhibition Secondary Screening Presentation, Kawaguchi Art Galley Atlia, Saitama, Japan
The 20th Exhibition of the Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art, Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

2016Independent TAGBOAT ART FES, Hulic Hall, Tokyo

2015Shibuya Eggs Sayonara City Hall, Shibuya Ward Office, Tokyo
Joint Exhibition, Chiba City Culture Center, Chiba, Japan
The 11th Sekai Painting Grand Prize, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo

2014Chiyoda Art Festival 3331 Independents, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo

2013Shell Art Award 2013, The National Art Center, Tokyo
GEISAI#19, Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center, Tokyo
Asian Age 3, The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo, Tokyo
The 9th Sekai Painting Grand Prize, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo
Tagboat at Bunkamura, Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo
Tagboat Award in Taipei, Art Space Kin Gyo Koo Kan, Taipei, Taiwan
Tokyo Wonder Wall Award 2013, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
The 8th Tagboat Award, Ikejiri Institute of Design, Tokyo