Kotaro rides into the future with ostriches, and harks back to tradition with irises.

The main body of Kotaro Fukui's work addresses themes of nature, body, and Eastern spirituality by focusing on ostriches, and flowers -lilies, irises, and recently peonies. Starting in his student days, Kotaro has drawn ostriches – and over the years his ostriches have developed different presences.

Kotaro paints both realistic and abstract ostriches on washi (handmade Japanese paper), canvas, kimonos, obis, ostrich eggs, and even on the human body and motor vehicles. For a site-specific mural, he painted a long line of ostriches by turns walking, running, and gazing intently at the viewer. In his improvisational performances, Kotaro paints with the edge of his hand to bring ostriches in motion and thus catch eternity. In 2005, he began his Broken Flower series – lilies formed by letting ink splash on paper. This was followed in 2006 by the Silent Flower series of irises on a background of gold leaf. The next stage in Kotaro’s career came in 2007 with a new series of flowers; he started to paint single peony blossoms – this is his Passion Flower series. Kotaro Fukui is based in Tokyo and New York.