Ryohei Yamashita

Profile
1973: Born in Fukuoka, Japan
1994: Begins his activities as a street artist
1996: Graduates from the Visual Communication Design Department of the Kyushu Institute of Design in Fukuoka
2002: Starts an art studio in Yokohama, Japan
2004: Starts art activities as an illustrator under the name "Illustmaster"
2006: Participates in the "Cre8NY11 Exhibition" in New York City
2008: Changes his artist name from "Illustmaster" to "Ryohei Yamashita" and begins his activities as an artist
2008: Passes the audition of "Digmeout", a project of discovering young artists. Thereafter, becomes an artist for
"Digmeout FACTORY" and involves himself in art collaboration projects with such businesses as Nike and
Nissan Motors.

Clients
NIKE JAPAN
Harley-Davidson Japan K.K.
Benesse Corporation
MAGAZINE HOUSE, Ltd.
and many more...

One-Man Exhibitions
2008: "ART ADVENTURES" (Digmeout ART & DINER) Osaka, Japan

Group Exhibitions
2006: "Cre8NY11 Exhibition" (NYCoo Gallery) New York City
2007: "NYG Exhibition" (Gallery Konrin) Tokyo, Japan
2007: "My Favorite 6 Exhibition" (Fujiya Hotel, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan)
2008: "Digmeout: Osaka's premier art collective returns to Portland" (Compound Gallery)Portland, Oregon,

Yamashita's involvement in the visual art of Nike, the world brand in sports, greatly helped him grow as an artist. FM802's art project "digmeout" collaborated with NIKEid on a yearlong basis, and Yamashita was selected as the first artist for the collaboration project entitled, "NIKEid x Digmeout 'WAZZAWALL'". Yamashita received such positive reaction to his visual works that there is talk of holding future exhibits in Belgium and other parts of Europe.

Art Production
Yamashita's art production very often uses computer graphics in the "esquisse" or preliminary sketch phase. However, a non-linear digital artwork environment is essential to intuitively embody the overflowing image. Yet the digital art in itself is only available as an unsubstantial form of data. Accordingly, Yamashita concluded that he could not ignore the art process of breathing life into his paintings. In short, this meant Yamashita stuck to completing the final stages of his artwork on canvass using color paints. So here we present his artwork, which blends the precision of digital printing and dynamic material quality of oil paints.

On "Movement"
Yamashita believes that beauty is radiated in a state of lively movement rather than in a state of rest. He has therefore tried to depict what he considers his genuine form of subject by capturing the shape of movements including the tracks such movements create. A gallery person describes such works of Yamashita with a single word-"movement".