Mokoto Aida is one of Japan’s most diverse and controversial artists. His art often exhibits a dark cynicism that is infused with elements of a lighthearted, lowbrow-style humor as he tackles heavy subjects such as terrorism, pedophilia, and societal misogyny.

For several years now, the Tokyo art scene has been trying its best to keep up with the work of Makoto Aida, a task made difficult by the fact that it is nearly impossible to anticipate where the enigmatic artist will go next. At the ripe old age of 35, Aida has covered most of the artistic angles with an oeuvre that includes manga, painting, video, and installation, executed with such a wide range of expressive qualities that it is difficult to believe all could have been created by a single artist. There were technically brilliant paintings, ink brush works, expressionistic oil paintings, a video, a sculpture, and a collaboration with students. One of the strengths of his work has been this sense of diversity of media and methods through which he isolates and spears various issues.

Aida’s work can be categorized into three related areas: questions of Japanese politics and power, questions of Japanese aesthetics and beauty, and questions of relationships with the “West”. Aida may be best-known for his disturbing Nihonga paintings of young female amputees, some of them leashed like a dog. He has also exhibited a “Fake Suicide Machine,” built a cardboard castle for the Shinjuku homeless, and done a splendid series of mock children’s paintings on themes such as “Save Nature,” and “Be Punctual.”

He resides both in Tokyo and New York.