Shintaro Miyake JAPANESE, b. 1970

Shintaro Miyake makes large-scale drawings featuring recurring characters, sometimes in detailed scenes, though his works do not contain narratives. Miyake is perhaps best known for drawing character portraits while wearing hand-made costumes of the characters—the creative act itself being a performance. He believes that “to wear the character costume is an expression of making a portrait of myself.” Both his costumes and drawn figures are distinctive for their ovular heads and gaping eyes and mouths. He cites a range of influences, including Salvador Dalí and the Gugging artists, the latter inspiring Miyake to begin working in crayon and colored pencil.