Biography
Sosuke Ueta (born 1994, Kagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese contemporary artist and printmaker whose practice combines copper-plate etching and lithography with sculpture and installation, producing works that manipulate viewer perception through scale shifts — from miniature diorama-like cities to immersive room-scale installations. He completed his MFA in Printmaking at Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geidai) in 2019, training in the Print First Studio of the Painting Department, with a 2017 exchange period at the Bratislava Academy of Fine Arts in Slovakia under Michael W. Schneider on an ERASMUS+ scholarship. He is included in the 68th CWAJ Print Show 2025 catalogue with the work 'Debris of Thought or The Sound of the Tide' (2025, etching, 80 x 80 cm, print number 186).
Ueta's training trajectory traces the Kagawa-Tokyo-Bratislava axis: he completed his BFA at Tama Art University in 2016 in the Department of Painting, Print Specialisation, then proceeded to Tokyo Geidai. The Slovakian exchange under Schneider — a leading European print educator — placed him within the broader European intaglio dialogue and produced collaborations with peers including the Bratislava-school printmaking community. He completed a research fellowship at Tokyo Geidai (2020) and the Tokyo University of the Arts × School of the Art Institute of Chicago Residency.
The mature practice draws on multiple intaglio and lithographic techniques as starting points for installation work that extends print's flat surface into three dimensions. Major works include 'VDUS (Virtual Device of Urban Structure)' (2021, PC case with motherboard, graphics board, electronic circuits, LED, goat leather, 21 x 46 x 42.8 cm), 'Chicago Maps (on the origin of the country)' (2018, bear fur with electronic circuits, electronic components, wire, 200 x 200 x 45 cm) — produced during the Chicago residency and reflecting the city's grid plan above a topographic map through circuit patterns — and the '(whereabouts of the) ANIMA' series (2019), which combines organic and geometric forms through animal imagery and drafting tools.
Ueta's award profile is dense: he received the Turner Award (Excellence Prize) in 2014, the Tamabi Graduation Exhibition Outstanding Work in 2016, multiple Mitsubishi Shoji Art Gate Program acquisitions (8 instances 2013-2019), the Kuma Foundation 2nd cohort fellowship (2018), the Art Work With Merck 2018 scholarship, finalist selection at the 5th Bangkok Triennale 2018, and the 2021 Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Training Program for Emerging Artists. His exhibitions span Japan, Europe, and Asia: 'RE: habilitation' at Geidai Art Plaza Tokyo (2024), 'この星を狭めるもの' at gallery neo_shenshu Ibaraki (2023), 'KUMA EXHIBITION 2020' (Tokyo), 'KUMA EXHIBITION 2019,' 'The point of truth, beauty and knowledge' at Künstlerhaus Dortmund Germany (2022), and inclusion in the Nakanojo Biennale 2025 (Gunma).
His work is held in the public collections of Tama Art University, Tokyo University of the Arts, the Bratislava Academy, Silpakorn University (Thailand), the Ishikawa Washi institutional collection, and Minakami Town Hall. The 68th CWAJ Print Show selection in 2025 places his print practice in front of the international collector base. Sosuke Ueta is represented through Galleria Finarte, the Cyg Art Gallery (Iwate), and the Geidai Art Plaza, and is documented online at his Jimdo portfolio (sosukeueta-art.jimdofree.com), Instagram (@sosukeueta), and the bijutsutecho artist directory.
Key Facts
- Active Period
- 1994
- Nationality
- 🇯🇵Japan
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Works Indexed
- 1
Frequently Asked Questions
Sosuke Ueta (born 1994, Kagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese contemporary artist and printmaker whose practice combines copper-plate etching and lithography with sculpture and installation, producing works that manipulate viewer perception through scale shifts — from miniature diorama-like cities to immersive room-scale installations. He completed his MFA in Printmaking at Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geidai) in 2019, training in the Print First Studio of the Painting Department, with a 2017 exchange period at the Bratislava Academy of Fine Arts in Slovakia under Michael W. Schneider on an ERASMUS+ scholarship. He is included in the 68th CWAJ Print Show 2025 catalogue with the work 'Debris of Thought or The Sound of the Tide' (2025, etching, 80 x 80 cm, print number 186).
Sosuke Ueta was active born in 1994. They were associated with the Contemporary Mokuhanga movement.
Sosuke Ueta's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.