"Splash VI" Drawing

Born in Tokyo, Hiroko Imada studied at the Tokyo Zokei University and later at the Slade School of Fine Art (University College London). Her degree show in 1992 caught the attention of The Times art critic David Cohen, who described her work as ‘heralding an impressive new talent’. In 1992, Imada was awarded the British Council Fellowship for her achievements at the Slade. She is now based in London.

She has exhibited throughout Europe and Japan, and a number of her exhibitions have been featured at Japan-related events and in the official magazine of the Embassy of Japan.

Her solo exhibition in 2015 was produced by the Children’s Art Centre Pessi, in Vantaa, Finland, and was broadcast by Yle TV News. Her print works have been featured in the prestigious Saatchi Art Online collection.

In 2017, Imada created a giant paper wave interactive installation work at the Great Court of the British Museum as a part of 'Hokusai, beyond the Great Wave’ exhibition official event - Hokusai: Making Waves.

In 2019, she was comissioned by Universal Pictures to create a painting for a specific scene and her painting appears in the film “Fast and Furious 9” which was premired in June 2021.

In 2021, the event of Japan-UK Season of Culture, and the same year, she was commissioned by the British Museum to create a woodblock print inspired by Hokusai’s drawing and its process was recorded to create a film to run at the exhibition ‘Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything’ from 30 September 2021 to 30 January 2022 at the British Museum.

In 2022, she has created a Japanese woodblock print in colour inspired by one of the piece from the Royal Collection and its process was filmed and presented at 'Japan: Courts and Culture' exhibition from 8 April 2022 to 26 February 2023 at the Miller Learning Room, The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. The film was also used for the multimedia guide at the exhibition.

In 2022, to mark the launch of Dr. Marten’s collaboration with The Met, Dr. Martens X The MET (Katsushika Hokusai), Dr. Martens asked Imada to create a “Dr. Martens X The Met” logo in woodblock print commemorating the partnership. The filming team spent the day with Hiroko in her studio to learn more about the enduring art of Japanese woodblock printing. There is a link - Carving a Legacy, DMs X The MET | Hiroko Imada on Dr. Martens official webpage which includes the video and text of the interview.