Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1958, Hiroshi Senju is a painter who expresses contemporary modernity with ancient painting techniques that are unique to Japan. He uses this dichotomy to express the connections between Eastern and Western Philosophical traditions. He combines pigments derived from natural materials such as minerals, seashells and corals in a medium of animal-hide glue, and then applies this "paint" to special hand-screened Japanese rice paper. Mr. Senju completed a PhD Program in Fine Arts at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1987. He went on to have a number of solo shows and participated in group exhibitions in Asia, Europe, and the United States. He is the first Asian artist to receive an individual fine arts award at the Venice Biennale for his acclaimed Waterfall paintings in 1995. Some of his more recent exhibitions include Beauty Project at the Museum of Contemporary Art in London in 1996, and a tour of fourteen Japanese cities of his acclaimed Waterfall paintings. Museums that house his work include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Toyama Museum of Contemporary Art in Kushiro, Japan.