Profile

Biography

If we ask Shigeru Tanaka about his dream, he will smile and say:

“My dream is to draw a picture that make you feel like
you are listening to a warm melody”.

Shigeru Tanaka was born in 1970 in Gifu Prefecture,
in a rural town between two large rivers.
He grew up catching crayfish in the streams in the summer and playing with
the snow on the slope of Ibuki Mountain in the winter.
He also loved painting, so when he was 12, he learned oil painting.

After graduating from high school, he followed in
his father’s footsteps and became an architectural painter.
His experience painting exterior walls helps him with
the toning and color schemes in his paintings.
He also joined a theater company when he was young.
At that time, he appeared in musicals as an
actor and painted backgrounds for the scenario decoration.
Being involved in the theater was an
important experience for him, because actors develop
a special empathy and understanding of art.
And this also influenced his pictorial work.

In fact, it took a long time for Shigeru
Tanaka to start painting more seriously in an artistic way.
It was during one of the nights in spring of 2021,
in the middle of the pandemic, when he started just
by drawing his daughter in his sketchbook.
That’s how he fell in love with painting.

While he was studying art on his own, he found two great teachers.
The first one was Katsushika Hokusai,
from who studied ukiyo-e and dynamic composition.
The second one was Leonardo da Vinci,
from who studied the golden ratio and perspective.

He spends his time painting even at dawn, staying up late.
With a smile, without hesitation
“I feel painting is my mission, I feel like I’ve found it”he says.

Using both, his wall paint brush, and his art paint brush,
Shigeru Tanaka dreams about painting a warm melody on the canvas of the world.

Awards

Solo exhibitions and events

Books and magazines features

Sales gallery

Yoshino Gallery Ltd.
3-10 Yoshinocho, Gifu City
Phone number 058 265 1023

Videos