Shinji Ogata

Shinji Ogata



About The Artist


I was born in Yatsushiro City (Kumamoto Prefecture), Japan, in 1965. After graduating from high school, I lived in Tokyo for about 20 years before moving to Brisbane. I decided to dedicate myself to art when I was 18 years old and tried for 8 years without success to gain entry to Tokyo National University of Fine Arts. At that point, I joined a graphic design company and while I was working there, I attended and graduated from Tama Art University. It took this long for me to realise that academic study was not important for me in regards to art, particularly when I considered how much more, in a different and more important sense, I learnt by being out in the real world. The most exciting subjects for me to draw or paint are human figures or other organic subjects, but I also enjoy painting other things such as landscapes and buildings, because even though they are inorganic substances, I naturally try to find the soul within them. I mainly use pen and water colours. I love this one-take finish style and enjoy the kind of improvisation it entails; it is also a very important aspect of my art. I would like to keep searching for, and discovering, little pieces of the secret of this world's aesthetic mysteries through my drawing tour of life.