Japan
Nagano, 1984
Born in Nagano, Japan in 1984. Graduated from the Department of Oil Painting, Musashino Art University in 2008. Currently lives and works in Nagano.
Akahane primarily works in painting, while also producing sculptures and drawings that extend from his painterly practice. Having grown up in the rich natural environment of Nagano, he has long been interested in the relationship between humanity, the earth, and the invisible yet fundamental processes that sustain life. His works frequently incorporate motifs such as human beings, soil, fungi and other decomposers, and the circulation of matter. By employing a variety of materials and embracing an organic sense of materiality, Akahane seeks to restore a primordial connection between humanity and the world.
For him, painting is not merely a surface, but rather the earth as an organic substance, the very skin of the planet, and at the same time an entry point to the uncontrollable forces of nature that dwell within human beings. His works, characterized by their unique material presence, attempt to visualize a raw world that includes the darkness obscured by capitalist society and structures of power. They also seek to liberate ways of seeing that have been confined by contemporary life, suggesting the possibility of another world.
Recent major exhibitions include Life and Circulation (Informel Nakagawamura Museum, Nagano, 2024), Soil Psychedelia (CAVE-AYUMI GALLERY, Tokyo, 2023), Fumiaki Akahane: SOILS AND SURVIVORS (Suwa City Museum of Art, Nagano, 2023), and Rotten Symphony (CAVE-AYUMI GALLERY, Tokyo, 2022).
