Yuhi Hasegawa’s paintings, while presenting as portraits, are not literal representations but a means of discovering what an expression, a color, a composition can reveal about the inner life of humans. He is interested in the instinctive and primitive qualities of a person and the expressive forms they can assume. Many of his figures wear a mask-like countenance, as though animated by something within. “I grew up in a house where there were so many masks from Africa and Oceania, and European kitschy objects hung on the wall that my father collected from all over the world. I was always scared but intrigued by them. That was my very first inspiration for sure.” 

Born in Kyoto, Japan, Yuhi first moved to San Francisco to study painting at the Academy of Art University. After six years in San Francisco he moved to pursue a Master’s Degree in Fine Art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he continues to live and work.