Biography

Sou Akou is a painter whose practice brings together the artistic traditions of China and Japan through ink and colour. Born in Jilin, China, in 1960, he is a member of the China Artists Association and is based in Fukuoka, Japan.

In 1987, he received guidance from Japanese painter Matazo Kayama during Kayama’s visit to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China. He moved to Japan in 1988. His studies included painting at the graduate school of the Chinese National Academy of Arts and Fukuoka University of Education, followed by research in East Asian painting as a visiting researcher at Tokyo University of the Arts. Alongside research and teaching at Fukuoka University of Education, he founded the Sou Akou Chinese Ink Painting Society in 1990. Renamed the Sou Akou Ink Art Academy in 2003, it has provided a setting for painting, education and artistic exchange between China and Japan.

His subjects range from Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms to landscapes, flowers, birds and abstraction. Layers of colour meet the tonal depth and movement of ink, giving form to the atmosphere of nature, remembered landscapes and spaces transformed by light. In Impression Nippon/World, encounters with places and cultures are brought together through a dialogue between painting techniques.

He has held exhibitions and taken part in artistic exchange across Japan, China, Asia, the United States and Europe. His honours include the 2005 UN-NGO World Peace Academy Grand Prize, recorded in Japanese as「世界平和アカデミー大賞」. His painting《千山滴翠》was selected for the 12th National Exhibition of Fine Arts in China in 2014. In 2023, he presented Eternal Mount Fuji in collaboration with Tetsuya Komuro. Measuring 9.2 metres wide and 3.65 metres high, the painting is accompanied by music, creating an extended encounter with the work.