Hideyasu Moto is an illustrator and manga artist with a large base of fans who take avidly to his style: pop on the surface, but containing stories and a worldview ripe with cynicism.
Moto started working as a freelance illustrator in 1990, and in 1995 he made his debut as a manga artist. After publishing manga including “Recosuke-kun” and “Wild Mountain,” in recent years he has shifted the focus of his activities to illustration for use in commercials, magazines, picture books, etc.
Meanwhile Moto is also known as a record collector and an authority well versed in the realm of music. He regularly contributes to music magazines and the like, and he is on familiar terms with many musicians. From these musical connections, Moto‘s works have many fans within the music industry, and he is in charge of creating CD jackets and pamphlet visuals for such popular Japanese musicians as Unicorn and Spitz. In 2014 Moto also founded his own record label, Rhion Records, specializing in production of 7-inch (EP) records; here, he personally handles all aspects from planning and jacket design to product release. His ongoing and unique activities in this sphere are in synch with his unsurpassed love of music.
This exhibition will showcase more than 200 of Hideyasu Moto’s original illustrations and manga drawings that have served as the source of his creative activities in book production. His chosen theme is “rock (music) and manga (story).” Following this exhibition, Moto will resume his manga activities for the first time in seven years. We hope that the exhibition will provide visitors a rare opportunity to see Moto’s full body of works from the near 30 years since his debut, and to acquire an appreciation of the appeal of, and background to, his work as an illustrator and manga artist, including his activities now underway toward creating new manga.