Tomoaki Suzuki Mito, Japan, b. 1972

Tomoaki Suzuki was born in the Japanese city of Mito in 1972 and lives and works in London.

Suzuki studied at Tokyo Zokei University and later pursued an MA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths and another in Sculpture at the City & Guilds Art School, also in London. He has received the Arts Foundation Fellowship and the Crafts Council Development Award.

Suzuki's sculptures combine traditional Japanese woodcarving techniques with contemporary portraiture. He depicts his friends and passersby he encounters on the street. Fascinated by fashion and its signifiers in relation to Western consumerism and multiculturalism, Suzuki recreates his subjects with vivid colors and details, emphasizing how individuals define their identity through clothing.

His solo exhibitions include Centro Roberto Garza Sada, University of Monterrey, Nuevo León; SHCP Art Museum, Mexico City; Corvi-Mora, London; CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art of Bordeaux; Art Institute of Chicago; Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York; Museo Marino Marini, Florence; SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo; and Michael Janssen Gallery, Cologne.

He has also participated in multiple group exhibitions such as those at the National Museum of Art, Osaka; the High Line, New York; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, among others.