Yoichi Umetsu - Set and scatter, 2022
Yoichi Umetsu (b. 1982 in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan; lives and works in Sagamihara and Shigaraki) is an artist specializing in tackling fundamental questions such as "What is art?" and "What does it mean to create?" from a multitude of angles.
His activities range from painting, filming performances, leading the art collective "Parplume," running a non-profit gallery, planning exhibitions, and writing critical texts. In recent years, Umetsu has been based in Shigaraki, where he has been working on ceramics, and in a studio in Tokyo, where he is also involved in printmaking, attempting to find a nexus with the people who support the industry’s infrastructure, such as the ceramic and printing industries.
Umetsu's own activities rely on art history and art institutions, but he is relentlessly moving back and forth between the independent and the institutional in an attempt to shake up and renew that order.
Yoichi Umetsu has exhibited in Japan and in France. He graduated from Tokyo Zokei University with a BA in painting.