Ryuma Imai, Gold Fish s-2, 2011
Enamel and acrylic on paper
39.5 x 27.5 cm (visible), 56 x 46 x 2 cm (framed)
Condition: Good, with surface accretion consistent with age.
Certificate of Authenticity available
Acquired from H-art Beat Gallery, Tokyo, Japan in 2011.
-
Ryuma Imai (Japanese, 1976–2025) was a Japanese contemporary artist born in Tokyo. The son of painter Toshimitsu Imai, he was introduced to art and art history from an early age and studied drawing at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris in 1995. He began his professional artistic career in 2008, developing a distinctive practice centred on animals and human figures. Working primarily with enamel and acrylic, Imai created expressive images characterised by flowing contours, vivid colour and a strong sense of movement and vitality.
Imai’s process was highly intuitive, pouring enamel directly onto canvas or paper without preliminary sketches and allowing the unpredictable flow of the paint to determine the forms. His animal subjects, in particular, were drawn from memory, with expressive lines used to capture movement, instinct and fleeting moments. His works were exhibited extensively in Japan and internationally, including at the Menard Art Museum, where he held his first museum solo exhibition in 2023. His works are held in the collections of the Menard Art Museum, Noku Kyoto Hotel, Nakano Residential Museum and private collections.
(Photographed in September 2026)