Ataru Sato
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, Japan in 1986 and is currently based in Tokyo. 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. The artist’s major group exhibitions include “10000 Lives: The 8th Gwangju Biennale” (2010), “Yokohama Triennale 2011: OUR MAGIC HOUR – How Much of the World Can We Know?” (2011), “Inside” (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2014), and “Dojima River Biennale 2019” (Osaka, 2019). Sato’s works have been acquired by the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection as well as by Louis Vuitton Malletier.
WORKS
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
- 2024
- “what men live by“ Office Baroque, Online Exhibition
“Here and There and Back Again, Japanese Art 1964 – 2024” NICOLAS KRUPP, Basel, 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!” Sapporo Art Museum, Hokkaido, Japan
“Takahashi Collection – Mindfulness!” Kirishima open-air Museum, Kagoshima, 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
PRESS
- "Creating to Develop (Self-) Understanding" ｜Text by Henri Robert | Pen | April 27, 2021
- "Ataru Sato" ｜interview by Miwa Susuda｜office magazine｜June 5, 2017
