(Shizuoka, Japan, 1981)
Daisuke Ohba is a contemporary Japanese artist whose practice is grounded in a sustained investigation of light as a material and perceptual phenomenon. He graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2005, where he studied mixed media, and completed a master’s degree in Oil Painting at the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2007. His academic formation situates him at the intersection of traditional painting and experimental approaches to materiality.
From his early works onward, Ohba has incorporated polarized pearl, gold, and holographic pigments into his paintings, producing surfaces that emit and refract light rather than merely depicting it. His work engages with long-standing debates in the history of painting concerning the relationship between color systems (CMYK) and light systems (RGB), while resonating with broader inquiries found in Impressionism and Optical Art. At the same time, Ohba draws conceptually and technically from Japanese artistic traditions, such as gold leaf and raden (mother-of-pearl inlay) which historically introduced actual light into artistic expression.
Ohba’s work has been widely exhibited in Japan and internationally, including Parallel Histories: The Several Currents of Contemporary Art 2020, (Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art) and the VOCA Exhibition – The Vision of Contemporary Art 2011, (The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo). His works are held in notable public and private collections, among them the JAL Sakura Lounge at Haneda Airport, the Long Museum in Shanghai, and the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. He currently serves as Associate Professor at Kyoto University of Art, contributing to the education of a new generation of artists.