MASAYA KAWANO

Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, in 2006.

He graduated from Yamaguchi Prefectural Hagi Commercial High School in 2025 and entered the Oil Painting Course in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at Kyoto University of the Arts in the same year. In 2026, he received the Toru Kamiya Award at the first-year advancement exhibition. He is currently studying at Kyoto University of the Arts.

His practice is grounded in oil painting and also extends into mixed media, installation, three-dimensional work, and graphic design. His work does not remain within the pictorial surface, but develops through relationships between painted surfaces, material conditions, spatial structures, and objects.

He is also involved in DJing and the production of live music events, where he observes the relationships between sound, bodies, space, lighting, and the rhythm of a site. Painting and live music production are not separate practices for him; they are connected as different ways of working with perception, atmosphere, and the condition of people within space through image and sound.