Hiroto Rakusho
Hiroto Rakusho is a foil craftsman and foil artist born in 1962 in Nishijin, Kyoto, Japan.
He inherited the family business from his father, a foil craftsman, and worked as a traditional foil craftsman for Kyoto Nishijin textiles until the age of 40,Since the age of 40, he has been exhibiting his works as a foil artist in New York, Paris, London, Kuwait, and other places around the world with a desire to share Japanese traditional techniques with the world.
He has also attracted attention in Japan, where his works have been used as symbols for corporations and hotels, and his works have been featured in movies, television, and magazines.
Using various types of foil (gold, silver, and platinum) on the theme of the moon, this work sublimates the techniques cultivated through the restoration of obi belts and cultural assets of Kyoto's Nishijin district into art.
The characteristic of Rakusho's foil art is that the expression of the work changes in many ways, just like a natural landscape, depending on the time of day, angle, and other factors that affect the light that hits the work.
Nishijin, Kyoto, where Rakusho was born, has been famous since the Heian period as a production center of high quality silk fabrics, with many craftsmen producing kimonos and obis. Rakusho's father, Jisaku Nishikawa, was a gold leaf craftsman who applied 0.1 micron thick gold leaf on persimmon tannin or Japanese paper, cut it into thin lines, and combined it with silk to create beautiful patterns on obis.
2023 Solo exhibition "Gekko Raisan - The Moon Shining on Mt. Gekirin and the Radiance of the Universe" at Sennyuji Temple, Kyoto
2023 Exhibited works at ARTart KYOTO @ Nijo Castle, Kyoto
2023 Exhibition at MGM Cotai Theatre, Macau
2022 Exhibition at National Gallery Singapore The Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium & Foyer
2022 Appearance in the movie "HELL DOGS"
2022 "Seeing the Moon, Seeing from the Moon" at Art Fair Tokyo
2021 Provided arts for the movie "Burning Sword"
2021 Hiroto Rakusho Exhibition "Seeing the Moon" at ARTGLORIEUX GALLERY
2020 Hiroto Rakusho Exhibition "Blue World" @GINZASIX ARTGLORIEUX GALLERY
2020 Memory of the Moon - Foil + Art World @ The Okura Tokyo MAYU GALLERY
2019 "Mu" @ ART FAIR TOKYO Exhibit
2018 Provided arts for the movie "The Prosecution"
2017 '○△□ As It Is' @ Art Fair Tokyo Exhibited
2016 Produced 'Le Rouge Kyoto Edition' with GIVENCHY
2015 Solo exhibition "Golden Renaissance" in Kuwait
2011 "GOLD LEAF KYOTO COLLECTION" at Bergdorf Goodman, NY
Exhibited at Shanghai Expo 2010
2009 Chado Ralph Rucci New York Collection Spring
2008 Exhibited at Salone del Mobile, Milano, Italy
2006 Exhibited at Art Expo New York
2006 Produced a high-resolution facsimile of the National Treasure "The Wind and Thunder Gods" by Sotatsu Tawaraya, and dedicated it to Kenninji Temple.
2006 Exhibited at Art Expo New York.
2004 Presented the foil textile "Moonlight" to the Mayor of Paris.
2004 Cosmic Web, Textiles of the Universe, Museo Nazionale d'Arte degli Studi di Roma, Greece