Keibun Ōta


Keibun Ōta, real name Yoshifumi Ōta, is a painter and illustrator born on November 10, 1951, in Haboro, Hokkaidō Prefecture, Japan. He is best known for his watercolor paintings of young girls and children. Ōta has multiple books in print which collect his works, and he has created illustrations for magazines, books, calendars, and posters, and has had multiple one-man exhibitions.
He currently lives in Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
WWW keibun.info

Biography

Ōta was born in Haboro, Hokkaidō Prefecture, Japan on 10 November 1951. He graduated from Hokkaido Bifuka High School. After moving to Tokyo to work as a freelance interior designer, he taught himself to paint and began doing work as an illustrator. In 1981, he won the Best Work Award at the 1st Poetry and Fairy Tale Illustration Contest sponsored by Sanrio. He won the 12th Sanrio Fine Arts Award in 1986.
In 1992, Ōta held his first series of exhibitions at department stores in every major city in Japan. This has become a regular event since then. He held a nationwide exhibit tour at five locations throughout Japan in 1995. Due to over 600,000 people attending the exhibits, the exhibit had to be extended to accommodate the additional attendees.
Ōta established his home page in 2000 for the 20th anniversary of his professional debut. In 2001, he held an exhibit at the Yokohama Sogō Fine Arts Gallery, and in 2002, exhibits were held at the Sakai Takashimaya and Matsuyama Takashimaya department stores.

Works

Book collections

  • Hidamari,
  • Komorebi,
  • Ano Ko,
  • Okurege wa Kaze no Katachi,
  • Soshite,
  • Hatsukoi,
  • Kaze no Labyrinth,
  • Maebure no Kiza,
  • Midori no Silhouette,
  • Hikarete,
  • Four Seasons,
  • Kitto,
  • Yubikiri,
  • Kazeiro no Kuchizuke,
  • Freelance,
  • Yumegatari,
  • Hanazakari,
  • Yakusoku,
  • Pianissimo,
'''Sources:'''

CD-ROM collections

  • ''The World of Keibun Ōta''

Awards and recognition

  • 1981 - Best Work Award at the 1st Poetry and Fairy Tale Illustration Contest sponsored by Sanrio
  • 1986 - Winner of the 12th Sanrio Fine Arts Award
Ōta was featured as the cover artist on several issues of Moe, a monthly art and illustration magazine published in Japan by Hakusensha since 1984.
  • October 1983, cover of Picture Books and Stories, the predecessor magazine to Moe
  • May 1984, also featured as the illustrator of a serialized fairy tale by Yōko Inoue and the monthly calendar included in the magazine
  • October 1984
  • July 1985
  • January 1986