Ulala Imai

Ulala Imai, born in 1982 in Kanagawa, Japan, is a third-generation artist whose vibrant oil paintings transform everyday objects into enigmatic, intimate scenes. Working from her home, Imai draws inspiration from her familial life and popular culture, infusing still lifes, portraits, and landscapes with a sense of narrative depth. Her subjects—children’s toys, household foods like buttered toast, and pop culture icons such as Charlie Brown or Chewbacca—are rendered with minimal, deft brushstrokes, creating luminous, slightly out-of-focus images that evoke universal human emotions.

A graduate of Tama Art University (BFA, 2004; Doctoral Program, 2009), Imai’s practice is deeply influenced by Western painting traditions, particularly Édouard Manet’s pragmatic realism, which she encountered during childhood visits to European museums. Her work, described as “delicious” and optimistic, celebrates the multilayered simplicity of daily life while exploring subtle interpersonal dynamics. Imai’s paintings are held in prestigious collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Dallas Museum of Art, and He Art Museum in Guangdong, China. She continues to live and work in Kanagawa, Japan, where her domestic environment remains a core source of creative inspiration