ARTIST

Ataru Sato

Ataru Sato attempts to understand himself, humanity, and the world around him through the act of drawing or painting. Expressing themes such as obsession, fear, and romance through fine – perhaps excessively fine – pencil lines and distinctive brushwork, Sato emphasizes that his works are created for himself. He sees art as being created by people who are alive to express their lived experiences and has no aspiration to create art for art’s sake, art that is novel, or art that seeks to be meaningful. Sato’s images continually propagate, driven by his need to comprehend the indiscernible aspects of life.Born from a core of personal questions, his work is characterized by a powerful energy that penetrates deeply, leaving a lasting impression on its viewers.

Ataru Sato was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1986 and is currently based in Tokyo, Japan. In 2009, he graduated from the Advanced Art Course in the Department of Information Design, Faculty of Arts and Design at Kyoto University of Arts and Design. In addition to his 2011 and 2015 solo exhibitions at Gallery Koyanagi, the artist has also held shows in cities such as New York and Brussels. The artist’s major group exhibitions include “10000 Lives: The 8th Gwangju Biennale” (Gwangju, 2010), “Yokohama Triennale 2011: OUR MAGIC HOUR – How Much of the World Can We Know?” (Yokohama Museum of Art, NYK Waterfront Warehouse, 2011), “Inside” (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2014), “Interpretations, Tokyo” (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 2019), “Dojima River Biennale 2019” (DOJIMA RIVER FORUM, Osaka, 2019), “Yanbaru Art Festival” (Ogimi Village Former Shioya Elementary School, Okinawa, 2023), and “LA MORSURE DES TERMITES” (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2023). Sato’s works have been acquired by the Miyanomori International Museum of Art, Sapporo, the Japigozzi Collection, the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, and Louis Vuitton Malletier.

WORKS

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

Ataru Sato First Love 2

2023.12.9 Sat - 2024.1.20 Sat

Tennoz

Ataru Sato 111 / triple one

2022.1.22 Sat - 2.26 Sat

Tennoz

Ataru Sato Øth (Zeroth)

2020.6.6 Sat - 7.11 Sat

Tennoz

Ataru Sato +10

2018.6.9 Sat - 7.21 Sat

Tennoz

Ataru Sato Courtship

2017.5.20 Sat - 6.24 Sat

Tennoz

BIOGRAPHY

1986 Born in Chiba, Japan
2009 Kyoto University of Art and Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Information Design, Advanced Art Course
Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan

CV

Solo Exhibitions

2023 “First Love 2” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2022 “111 / triple one” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2020 “Øth (Zeroth)” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2019 “Ataru Sato” Office Baroque, Brussels, Belgium
2018 “+10” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan

2017 “Courtship” KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan
2015 “MAN” Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, Japan
2011 “First Love” Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, Japan
2007 “ATARU SATO: His Sea” Mehr (Midtown), New York, USA

Group Exhibitions

2025 “Himekore!” Nara City Museum of Art, Nara, Japan
2024 “A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection” Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
“what men live by“ Office Baroque, Online Exhibition
“Here and There and Back Again, Japanese Art 1964 – 2024” NICOLAS KRUPP, Basel, Switzerland
“undisclosed sensibilities” flatmarkus, Zurich, Switzerland
2023 “Portraits – OBAYASHI COLLECTION” Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation East Building Rising Square 1F Earth Garden, Tokyo, Japan
“LA MORSURE DES TERMITES” Palais de Tokyo, Paris France
“Basic Fit” Office Baroque, Brussels, Belgium
“Yambaru Art Festival 2022-2023 SHIMA WO TSUNAGI SHIMA NI HIBIKU” Ogimi Village Former Shioya Elementary School, Okinawa, Japan
2022 “Yami no iki” MtK Contemporary Art, Kyoto, Japan
“Chambres d’Amis: IKEA” Office Baroque, Online Exhibition
2021 “Obayashi Collection ‘Self-History’” WHAT MUSEUM, Tokyo, Japan
“Daily Cat Essen” Ruttkowski;68, Paris, France

2020 “Archives of Civilization and Savagery” Sgùrr Dearg Institute for Sociology of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2019 “My Name is Tokyo Kai and I am an Artoholic” Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
“DOJIMA RIVER BIENNALE 2019” Dojima River Forum, Osaka, Japan
“INTERPRETATIONS, TOKYO” Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2017 “MEN” Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, Japan
“FLEMING FALOON” Office Baroque, Brussels, Belgium
2016 “PREVIEW: A GROUP SHOW OF REPRESENTED ARTISTS” SPACE TGC, Tokyo, Japan
“Jitto” Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Basel, Switzerland
2014 “Inside” Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2013 “Now Japan; Exhibition with 37 contemporary Japanese artists” Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
“Takahashi Collection – Mindfulness!” Kirishima open-air Museum, Kagoshima, Japan / Sapporo Art Museum, Hokkaido, Japan
2012 “Cosmic Travelers - Toward the Unknown” Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo, Tokyo
2011 “YOKOHAMA TRIENNALE 2011: OUR MAGIC HOUR - How Much of the World Can We Know?” Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan
2010 “The 8th Gwangju Biennale 2010: 10000 LIVES” Gwangju, Korea
“VOCA 2010: The Vision of Contemporary Art” The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2009 “neoneo Part1 [boys] neoneo boys wa so-shoku-kei?” Takahashi Collection Hibiya, Tokyo, Japan
“Stars Popping Out of Chaos 2009 Artist’s File” Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan
“Dorodoro, Doron - The Uncanny World in Folk and Contemporary Art in Asia” Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
2008 “Jungju An, Kengo Kito, Kae Masuda, Hiroharu Mori, Robert Platt, Ataru Sato, Kouichi Tabata” Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, Japan
“Schüttelreime” Office Baroque Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
“TERASE!” Kyoto Tower Bldg. / Sky Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
2006 “Vier Junge Japanische Künstler, Werkraum Godula Buchholz” Denklingen, Germany

Public Collections

Louis Vuitton Malletier, Tokyo, Japan
Miyanomori International Museum of Art, Sapporo, Japan
Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas, USA
Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, Tokyo, Japan

KOAKU KANECHIKA

Ataru Sato

WORKS

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

BIOGRAPHY

CV

Solo Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

Public Collections

PRESS