About

 

 Inagaki is a Japanese contemporary artist and figurative painter based in London, born in 1998. Driven by a mix of rebellion against and fascination with American culture due to Western influences, he immersed himself in graffiti and acts of vandalism in Tokyo. This background has informed his work in murals, public art, and studio production.

From a young age, Inagaki has been interested in exploring and understanding urban spaces. His figurative paintings often feature creatures, young people, and everyday objects found in cities, making these themes central to his research and practice. Currently, he is working on a series of figurative paintings depicting individuals in various situations and surreal dramas within major cities. His experiences living in Tokyo, Moscow, and London, as well as his involvement in vandalism and graffiti, have shaped his focus on the real tensions, releases, optimism, and gentrification in urban environments.

The figures in Inagaki's paintings are often shrouded in black, concealing regional and cultural specifics to evoke a sense of anonymity. They are frequently constructed from artificial materials and rendered in a post-human or humanoid-like manner. This intermediate identity between the organic and inorganic reflects a personal expression of the reality faced by a new generation of Japanese people confronting the shifting boundaries between Western influence and a traditionally homogeneous society.