Key Hiraga — Works 1966–1971 — Loevenbruck Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

In 11 days: March 27 → May 9, 2026

Loevenbruck is pleased to present a selection of paintings and works on paper by the Japanese artist Key Hiraga (1936–2000).

Hiraga was born in Tokyo and graduated from Tokyo University in 1956. He pursued painting as a self‑taught artist and in 1964 won the Grand Prix at the 3rd National Young Artists Exhibition in Japan, which enabled him to move to France. From 1965 to 1977, he lived in Paris, a city then marked by emerging movements such as Pop Art and Figuration Narrative.

Inspired by Jean Dubuffet and Art Brut, Hiraga gradually moved away from the Japanese pictorial tradition. In Paris, he began to depict the colorful life of Pigalle, developing a distinctive style of fragmented bodies, fantastical forms, and vibrant color. His paintings and works on paper combine vivid palettes with surreal, often erotic figures, populated by contorted forms and recurring motifs that suggest comic logic, psychological narratives, and the tensions of postwar modernity.

Key Hiraga The Elegant Life of Mr. K., 1971 — Huile sur toile — 130 x 162 cm Courtesy galerie Loevenbruck, Paris © The Estate of Key Hiraga. Photo Fabrice Gousset, courtesy Loevenbruck, Paris.

Hiraga’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions internationally. Notably, in 1966 he was invited to participate in the landmark exhibition The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (October 19, 1966–January 2, 1967), which introduced a new generation of Japanese artists to an international audience. On this occasion, the museum acquired his painting The Window (1964), which remains part of its permanent collection.

More recently, his work was featured in Key Hiraga: The Elegant Life of Mr. H at Nonaka‑Hill, Los Angeles (2025), and in earlier solo shows at Studio Gariboldi, Milan (2015), The Mayor Gallery, London (2008), the Hiratsuka Museum of Art (2000), and Bokushin Gallery, Tokyo (2000).

Hiraga’s works are also represented in major public and private collections worldwide, including leading institutions in Japan such as the National Museum of Art, Osaka, and the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art.