Shohei Ochiai - Playful, Distorted, and Youthful
Shohei Ochiai is a Japanese artist & illustrator who was born in 1988 in Omiya city of the Saitama prefecture.
In October of 2013, he started studying as an apprentice under YOSHIDAMASAKI INC., a film production company. Shortly after in March of 2014, Ochiai graduated from the Product Design Department of the prestigious Tama Art University. In 2019, he became independent, starting his full-time career as an artist.
Ochiai's works give off a distorted feel, yet somehow also manage to appear very nostalgic. It's almost as if the drawings were drawn by a child born in the '80s or '90s, with many of his pieces being drawings of things like Yu-Gi-Oh cards, Pokemon game cartridges, or classic snack packages.
His illustrations may seem childish, but you can see that it was an adult behind them. A child's drawing would not be able to capture the difficult kanji, the small details on packaging, or the intricate colouring of characters.
That's what makes Ochiai's drawings so unique; his drawings are the perfect balance of childishness & adultness. The inaccurate, scribble-like drawings that we created as a child without thought, Ochiai is recreating them, with the mind of an adult but the eyes of a child.
Despite having become independent only two years ago, Ochiai has already held numerous exhibitions, as well as being in a group exhibition once. He is also holding his most recent exhibition, "Distortion", from 9/19 - 9/26 at @reload_shimokita. Give it a visit if you're around.
