In the hyper-realistic portraits of Japanese artist Hiroki Yamamoto, young women arrest the eye with their astonishingly lifelike beauty. Some read or write in period dress, while others don elaborate mechanical headwear from some distant year in the future.

Delicate ballerinas pose at the barre, while kimono-clad maidens gaze through windows. So realistic is Yamamoto’s approach that, upon first glance, his paintings appear as soft-focus photographs, infusing each image with a dream-like quality.

“As a creator, I apply a certain sense of complexity, juxtaposing images representing the contemporary, the past, and the future,” Yamamoto says. “I aim to convey the timeless existence of individuals. Though cultures, technologies, and trends differ from one era to another, people continue to live their daily lives in a similar manner—it’s a wonderful, beautiful notion.”

Born in Chiba, Japan, in 1982, Yamamoto discovered the joy of creating art at a tender age, when his kindergarten principal noticed the remarkable portrait he had drawn of his mother.

“I struggled to communicate with others from a young age, but when I was alone in the classroom drawing everyone would gather round to see my artwork,” Yamamoto says. “I realized that drawing could be a form of communication in place of words, and a way to engage with society.”

The young artist went on to study art at high school, before honing his skills in both oil painting and fine art oil painting at Musashino Art University. Since graduating in 2009, Yamamoto has shown his artwork across group and solo exhibitions and has received numerous awards for artistic excellence. His wide body of work includes striking pieces such as Aeolian Harp, In Noema’s Forest, and Refrain.

Within each of his paintings, Yamamoto is keen to impress the idea of distance upon the viewer—taking an unusual creative stance to do so.

“My paintings don’t show a one-on-one relationship between the model and the artist. It’s more like the perspective of a potted plant peeking into the room where the model is, or the viewpoint of a film director watching footage in an editing room. This approach represents my way of interacting with others,” Yamamoto says.

A world of inspiration

Yamamoto draws creative inspiration from a plethora of sources, from classical paintings and literature to films. As might be expected from a creator of lifelike compositions, he admires the work of notable realist painters, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Vermeer, Dominique Ingres, and Antonio López, as well as Japanese artists like Ryohei Koiso and Hiroshi Noda.

These influences play a significant role in Yamamoto’s work. “Many masterpieces from the past have roots in the observation and imitation of nature, just as my current expressions do. I want to build upon the foundations laid by those who came before and challenge myself by exploring how someone born in the 1980s can express these ideas of composition and character,” he says.

Another intriguing factor of Yamamoto’s artistry is his adherence to oil painting—a medium that originated in Europe.
“It’s often said that classical realist expression became obsolete when photography was invented—but I believe that it hasn’t vanished but rather found new life, transformed in forms like films and video games,” Yamamoto says. “My own paintings resonate with this modern sensibility; they draw on a style that isn’t confined to the past, and extends beyond the boundaries of Eastern and Western traditions.”

Making a masterpiece

To produce such incredibly detailed paintings, Yamamoto’s creative process is both involved and exacting. He starts out as a photographer or filmmaker, scouting locations, hiring models or actors as subjects, and coordinating costume, makeup, and lighting, before taking pictures. He then refines these digital photographs on a computer. Finally, he shifts into the mode of a traditional realist painter, wielding brushes and paint with the most delicate of touches to form the finished piece.

“The image I’m pursuing is a cinematic one, preferably a masterpiece, which I then fit into the framework of painting,” Yamamoto says. “At times, I wonder if I should become a film director, but I find comfort in the life of a painter where I can control everything on my own.”

Though he employs digital techniques in his work, Yamamoto regards himself as a painter above all. “From a craft perspective, there’s significant importance in preserving traditional, analogue painting materials. The glossy texture of the oil paint, the sparkling surface, the grainy texture, the fluctuations in the brushstrokes applied by a human hand—these possess a unique charm that can’t be fully perceived on a monitor,” he says.

That said, the rise of AI-powered artworks is sending tremors reverberating through the art world. “The concept of the metaverse has become more widespread, and AI-driven image generation technology has become more accessible,” Yamamoto says. “This trend is likely to accelerate, but the material allure of traditional, one-of-a-kind analogue paintings can’t be replaced by digital means.”

True to form, he has a number of notable projects in the works over the next few months, including a star turn at Art Taipei 2023 and participation in a Beautiful Portraits group exhibition at Tokyo’s Shinseido gallery in November, in addition to showing at Art Fair Tokyo 2024.

Despite his growing stature on the art scene in Asia, Yamamoto finds true peace in the continual practice of his art, wishing to distance himself from the fast-paced, ever-changing demands of society to occupy an “unchanging, tranquil space” in which to create.

“This involves taking memorable motifs encountered in reality, filtering out the unnecessary, detaching them from the real, and preserving them on the other side of the window that we call a painting, where no one else can touch them—in an ideal form,” Yamamoto says. “It might be a means of escaping from reality, but the role of confronting reality head-on is best left to those suited for it. … I pursue ideals as much as I can in my studio.”