Born in Yamaguchi, Japan in 1944, Masakatsu Tagami studied philosophy and graduated from Yamaguchi University in 1967. Tagami later studied at the Taka Art Institute and in 1973, he started watercolour painting during his stay in Tokyo. In 1974, he began painting oil and copperplate engraving. Tagami is a self-taught artist who developed diversified skills. He uses a variety of materials such as watercolour, copperplate prints, oil paintings, new ink paintings and drawings. Tagami is passionate to draw and paint and has been painting for more than 40 years. Tagami’s home and atelier, which is built in a rural landscape surrounded by fields, is a large Japanese house that was built over 150 years ago. He grows vegetables in the fields and live a quiet life with nature. In many of Tagami’s paintings, landscape in the background depicts a greenish mountainscape with grasses in the foreground. The hometown where Tagami from - Yamaguchi, is known as “Western Kyoto” surrounded by the nature of the mountains that stretches along the way from Ogun to Little Kyoto and Tsuwano. There are animal figures and human in many of his paintings, the proportion of the figures are surreal and the activities that the characters engaged in seem mysterious. Art critic, Boguslaw Mansfeld compared Masakatsu Tagami's works with that of Bosch and Goya, whereby "in a world of stones, sky and naked existence, a shocking and unsettling loneliness is exposed." Masakatsu's works are sincere and soulful, reflecting his thoughts, sentiments and love of nature.
Solo Exhibitions
1978
- Print Art Exhibition, Tokyo Shirota Gallery, Japan
1981
- Oil Panting Exhibition, Tokyo Shirota Gallery, Japan
1984
- Contemporary Art Print exhibition, Toru Sunouchi
1997
- Masakatsu Tagami「ふきのとうの夢(Fukinoto's dream)」 Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
1998
- Masakatsu Tagami「KAO」 Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
1999
- Masakatsu Tagami「太我亜美(Ami Taiga)」 Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
2001
- Masakatsu Tagami「太古の薫り(Ancient Fragrance)」 Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Gallery Saoh & Tomos, Tokyo, Japan
2002
- Masakatsu Tagami「光りの操行(Manipulation of Light)」 Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
2003
- Masakatsu Tagami「そんなあなたに趣味の世界展(A world exhibition of hobbies for you)」 Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Gallery Tomos, Tokyo, Japan
2004
- 田上允克 版画展Wood-cut Prints Exhibition, Tokyo Instit Francaise du Japon, Tokyo, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition "2004", Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami 「新作ダイアリー(New Diary)」 Exhibition, Gallery Tomos, Tokyo, Japan
2005
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition "2005", Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
2006
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
2007
- Masakatsu Tagami「ただ、ひたすらに(Just Earnestly)」 Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Gallery Tomos, Tokyo, Japan
2008
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Gallery Morita, Fukuoka, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Gallery Tomos, Tokyo, Japan
2009
- 「３人展-右往左往(Going Left And Right)」田上允克・郡司宏・ペータ, Gallery Tomos, Tokyo, Japan
2010
- Masakatsu Tagami「天来の妙想(Divine Wonder)」 Exhibition, Misaki Gallery, Oita, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Gallery Saoh & Tomos, Tokyo, Japan
2013
- Solo Exhibition at Atsukobarou, Tokyo
- 「好きで描いてるわけじゃないけん(I'm not drawing because I like it)」天才おじさん(Genius Uncle)、TAGAMI展 第一弾, ATSUKOBAROUH arts drinks talk, Tokyo, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition - part 1, Gallery Saoh, Tokyo, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition - part 2, Gallery Tomos, Tokyo, Japan
2014
- Galerie Nord, Paris
- Masakatsu Tagami「一目散(Full Speed)」Exhibition, Gallery Saoh, Tokyo, Japan
2015
- MASAKATSU TAGAMI, Citruss GALLERY&STORE, Fukuoka, Japan
2017
- IDÉE Life in Art TAGAMI, イデーショップ 東京ミッドタウン店, Tokyo, Japan
2018
- Wernisaż "Elementy fantastyczne w twórczości Masakatsu Tagami", Museum of Far East Art, Kamienica Pod Gwiazdą, Poland
2020
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Gallery Shimazu, Japan
- 「毛虫クジラの譜(うた)(Caterpillar Whale Score)」, Kemushi Kujira no Uta Gallery Kazuki Exhibition, Japan
- 田上允克 絵画展, Shimada Museum, Kumamoto, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami - grafika i malarstwo(Graphics and Painting), Biblioteka Uniwersytetu Kazimierza Wielkiego
2021
- 君たちはどう生きるか How do you live ?, Gallery Kazuki, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition 2021, Gallery Simazu, Fukuoka, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition 2021, 再見公園, Fukuoka, Japan
- Masakatsu Tagami Exhibition, Curator’s Cube, Tokyo, Japan
2022
- 「田上允克絵画展」, Shimada Museum, Kumamoto, Japan
- The Surreal and The Real, W.H.Y. Gallery, Hong Kong
Group Exhibition
2012
- アーキテイルズ展 〜 空間と物語をめぐる現代美術展 〜(Architales Exhibition - A contemporary art exhibition about space and story), DO A FRONT, Yamaguchi, Japan space and story), DO A FRONT, Yamaguchi, Japan
2014
- "MANGARO", la Friche la Belle de Mai (Marseille), France
- "HETA-UMA", Musee International des Arts Modestes, Sète, France
2015
- 「絵との対話」展(Exhibition of Dialogue with painting), 菊川画廊, Yamaguchi, Japan
2017
- HEY!, Arts Factory, Paris, France
2022
- 田上允克 塚本猪一郎 2人展, 3ta2 SANTANI GALLERY, Japan
- HEY! Le dessin, Musée de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France
- 2022 Do a Front Exhibition, DO A FRONT, Yamaguchi, Japan
- Flower Wall - 5 Artists Group Show, ASTRoPE, Fukuoka, Japan
Art Fairs
2016
- ART in PARK HOTEL 2016, Japan
2017
- ART in PARK HOTEL 2017, Japan
- Outsider Art Fair 2017, Hôtel du Duc, Paris, France
2022
- ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2022, Japan,
- Kobe Art Marche, Kobe, Japan
- Art Nagoya 2022, Nagoya, Japan