Yuuki Kobayashi is an artist, poet, and “Sho-ka” who creates and shares works of art that bestow the very power of life and shake the soul. Kobayashi’s art is unique in its fusion of poetry, calligraphy, and image.
Calling his work as "Hieroglyphic Poems”, Kobayashi is committed to continually evolving in his aim to go beyond the traditional forms while staying rooted in the ancient heritage of the traditional art form of Japanese calligraphy “Sho”. As an artist and a human being, he is continually seeking to discover new and deeper potentialities of art and words, expressed in calligraphy and life. His works reflect and are highly relevant to the current era of humanity.
Born in Saga City, Japan in the year 1980, he began his practice in traditional Japanese calligraphy when he was six years old. It was in 2005 that he had the breakthrough of uniting word and image through the medium of calligraphy. One day, upon accidentally writing a poem that looked like the wing of a bird on the page, his idea for hieroglyphic poems was born. All together, they comprise the trinity of his hieroglyphic poems that express the soul. The three aspects of the trinity being: poetry, calligraphy, and image.
The power and inspiration of Kobayashi’s work for the world today is evidenced in the many ways that his art has been able to touch people and inspire humanity to rise to our better nature even as the chaotic modern world is threatening to break us apart. In 2011, after the Fukushima earthquake, Nagoya City asked him to perform a live painting event in Nagoya Castle for the mourning yet cheering people who were victimized by the earthquake.
In 2016, his art was featured at the 42nd G7 summit held in Japan. Kobayashi's art adorned the teacups and saucers for the gathered leaders of the world's most powerful and influential countries. For this occasion, he designed an image of an origami crane composed of Japanese calligraphic letters. This represented a pray for peace saying “Peace and happiness for all”.
Kobayashi has been the subject of features in major Japanese media outlets such as Asahi and Chunichi. His work has been selected to appear in the Mainichi Calligraphy exhibition the past eight years in a row, and he has been invited to exhibit his work in the show "Art In Nagahama" in Shiga prefecture a total of six times. He has also won accolades at the International Hand-Written Character Art Exhibition. And in 2014, at the Meiji Village Museum, Kobayashi had the honor of performing a live calligraphy drawing celebrating the New Year at The Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The debut of his exhibition “Crystal Verse” was in 2010, and he has continued to exhibit it in more than 20 galleries and events throughout Japan. In the summer of 2016, Kobayashi debuted Crystal Verse for the first time outside of Japan, at the Ashok Jain Gallery on the Lower East Side. His unique fusion of ancient and modern art was well-received in New York, with local media coverage and much interest in his paintings.
In 2017 he again traveled to New York City to participate in the world-famous Armory Week held in Chelsea, Manhattan. His work was displayed along with many of the best international artists in the world at the SCOPE International Contemporary Art Show. His work was a major star of the show, and many were amazed at Kobayashi’s unique skill in taking an ancient art form and transforming it into a modern context. He was also invited to present his exhibition at Ashok Jain Gallery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the same year.
In 2017, Kobayashi won the “Mainichi Award” at the Mainichi Shodo Exhibition in the Department of Modern Poetry section. The Mainichi Shodo Exhibition is the largest Shodo exhibit in Japan.
In 2018, Kobayashi again won the “Mainichi Award“ for the second year in a row and his “Crystal Verse” exhibition was exhibited in the Ise Modern Art Museum in one of Japan’s most historic ancient cities, Ise.
Also in 2018, Kobayashi participated in “Festival AREThe”, a French-Japanese government-organized festival of Japonisme that was centered in Paris and also moved to other European countries such as the UK, Italy, and Switzerland. He also participated in the “Affordable Art Fair” in Amsterdam.
In 2019, Kobayashi participated in the "100th Anniversary of Japan-Poland Diplomatic Relations" exhibition in Poland and a solo exhibition was held at "Subject Object Gallery" in Berlin, Germany. Additionally, a solo exhibition of "Crystal Verse" and a live art exhibition was held at Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan.
With the worldwide events of 2020, Kobayashi has scaled back his lives shows to spend more time with his young son, tend to his vegetable garden, and create new works to be shared with the world when the time is right.
2005年に墨で書いた詩が偶然、翼の形になったことをきっかけに創作活動を開始しました。
日本は「言霊の幸ふ（さきわう）国」と言って、言葉の霊力が幸福をもたらす国とされています。詩が形になったことで目には見えない言葉の力が可視化されたように感じました。
それから、作品を観た人が元気になるような作品を創作することがテーマの１つとなりました。 そして、何回も詩を書き重ね少しずつ形づくられることや、形となって凝固した作品が、鑑賞する際には、言葉と共に鑑賞者の心に水のように溶けてゆくというイメージから、自作の「詩」と「書」と「造形」が三位一体となっている作品が『言葉の結晶』と呼ばれるようになり『象詩書（ぞうししょ）』が生まれました。
「書」という芸術は心が現れるとされています。漢字は現在も使われている文字の中では世界最古の象形文字の一つであり、その起源となっている甲骨文字などは祈りを捧げるための図象であったりします。そのため、書を書くという行為は１つの神聖な儀式のようでもあり、祈りのようでもあります。ラスコーの壁画に見られるように、全ての美術の原点につながる行為であると考えています。
その中でも私の作品は、「詩」、「書」、「画」が三位一体となっていたり、流動するかけら状であったり、半立体であったりと特異なものです。
それらの作品には、異なる価値観を調和するということも投影したいと思っています。伝統と革新や、西洋の美と東洋の美など相反するものの融合を図りたいと考えています。そして伝統的な手法を用いながらも世界に通用する現代美術として昇華させたいと思っています。
書の作品は瞬間を切り取る芸術でもあります。生命の輝く一瞬を捉えたいと思っています。それゆえに作品として発表された一枚に費やした制作時間は短いと考えられがちですが、その一瞬を切り取るために何百枚も書き続ける場合があります。そのために反故にした紙の山ができますが、その捨てればゴミとなる反古の紙を使って作品やインスタレーションとして発表する場合があります。それは紙や墨を大切にしたいという想いはもちろんですが、創作の完成時だけではなく未完成である過程もまた素晴らしい時間であるということを示唆するからです。そして、それは混沌としたところから調和に向かって結晶化してゆく様子を想起し、この世界も同じように混沌とした世界が混沌たる調和へ向かう宇宙であるということを感じさせます。その大いなる流れの中で、今ここに在る命は脈々と繋がってきて今この時代を生きているということ、自身の内にある生命力を感じ、じわりと生きる力が湧いてくる、そんな作品が生まれることを願って創作しています。