広田郁也 Fumiya Hirota

Born in Tokyo in 1989. Graduated from the Games Course, Department of Animation, Tokyo Polytechnic University in 2012. Completed the master’s program in Integrated Design at Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2014. Currently based in Kyoto.
Hirota adopts an indirect painting method in his work where absorbent materials are soaked in red and blue dyes, placed intuitively and evenly on top of his motif, and then left for over eight hours for it to spread freely as he waits; he has also experimented with installing fabric like curtains in an exhibition space, representing the image of a distant place yet to be visited.

2025 “CAPS 2025” Osaka Takashimaya (Namba, Osaka)
2025 “voices” Galerie Aube (Uryuyama, Kyoto)
2025 “Starbucks Coffee Kyoto BAL” Starbucks Coffee Kyoto BAL (Kawaramachi-Sanjo, Kyoto)
2024 “Aoyama Gyofujin: A Special Exhibition of Works by Chinese and Japanese Artists on the Tang Poetry Trail” Shizuoka Convention Arts Center (Shizuoka)
2024 “The Echoes of East Kyoto” WHAT CAFE (Tennozu, Tokyo)
2023 “TANGENCY/BEGINNER” Obaku Sect Manpukuji Temple (Uji, Kyoto)
2022 “Aoyama Gyofujin 3: A Special Exhibition of Works by Chinese and Japanese Artists on the Tang Poetry Trail” Zhejiang Exhibition Hall (Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China)
2022 “Amagasaki Art Stroll” Amagasaki Ward Office (Amagasaki, Hyogo)
2022 “Collectors’ Collective vol.6 Osaka” TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY (Minamihorie, Osaka)
2021 “Colors – The World of Dyeing” Galerie Aube (Uryuyama, Kyoto)
2019 “Exhibition of Promising New Dyeing Artists” Musée de Somé Seiryu (Karasuma, Kyoto)
2019 “CROSS DOMAIN” Jinji Lake Museum of Art (Suzhou, China)
2018 “Group Exhibition of 20 Notable Young Artists” Hotel Anteroom Kyoto (Kujo, Kyoto)
2017 “SQUARE Dye Textile 3” GALLERY ART POINT (Ginza, Tokyo)
2017 “yodo studio × STUDIOHAIDENBAN” STUDIOHAIDENBAN (Yodo, Kyoto)
2016 “SQUARE Dye Textile 2” AC Gallery (Ginza, Tokyo)
2014 “Stars Emerging from Chaos 2014” Aoyama Spiral Garden (Aoyama, Tokyo)
2014 “Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi 2014” Gyoko Underground Gallery (Marunouchi, Tokyo)
2013 “Kyoto University of Art and Design Graduate School Graduation Exhibition” Galerie Aube (Uryuyama, Kyoto)
2013 “Physical Graffiti” Gallery Ort Project (Okazaki, Kyoto)
2013 “hexadecagon” Former Rissei Elementary School (Kawaramachi, Kyoto)
2012 “Tokyo Polytechnic University Faculty of Art Graduation Exhibition 2012” Akihabara UDX/Bellesalle Akihabara (Akihabara, Tokyo)
2012 “6-N” Gallery Kuu (Ueno, Tokyo)

Residence
2022 Residence and exhibition at Obaku-shu Manpukuji Temple (Uji, Kyoto)
2018 Residence and exhibition at Jinji Lake Museum of Art (Suzhou, China)

Awards
2014 Graduate School Award (Best Work Award), Class of 2013 Kyoto University of Art and Design Graduation Exhibition/Graduate School Completion Exhibition

Having grown up in the city, in an excessive overload of information, speed and density, in my practice I chose to adopt a method of letting dye bleed into cotton fabric, which is in the trust of time and material, from a strong desire for some leeway. Bleeding is a phenomenon born between control and coincidence; it comes with unexpected spreading and overlapping. This expands past the creator’s intention, and is also something that unlocks a sensation similar to a leeway.

Hirota’s work holds an impression that is far from the apparent lightness or warmth that comes with his methods; the unique colour composition and bleeding patterns that evoke dyed cells, manifest a psychedelic scenery. This also feels as if he is trying to portray the stimulations towards our sense of touch or visual cells themselves, as visual afterimages, rather than a painting that expresses narratives and forms as symbols. The true nature of his methodology, generated through bleeding, is in the visual world that seamlessly continues forever, and has the potential of expanding to a greater scale than that of an ordinary painting.

（Kohei Nawa）