Kazuya Ushioda, Fraternity, 2022. Oil on canvas, 13 x 21 inches (framed 19 x 27 inches).

Kazuya Ushioda is the subject of a new episode of NHK World's Direct Talk, the Japanese broadcaster's long-running interview series with leading figures in the arts, sciences, and public life. The episode, titled "Artwork That Embraces the Heart," runs about fifteen minutes and takes viewers into his studio and his thinking.

If you've stood in front of one of Ushioda's paintings at the gallery, you already know how startling they can be up close. Viewers encountering his work for the first time are often convinced they're looking at photographs. The episode walks through how that illusion is achieved, and how much of it is rooted in a painting medium he spent nearly a decade developing himself.

After a formative study trip to Italy as a student, Ushioda became fixated on Renaissance tempera. The traditional formulations did not give him the qualities he needed to render the human figure the way he envisioned it, so he began experimenting with his own. Nine years of research later, he arrived at what he now calls Impasto OG Tempera, a water-based medium combining animal glue, pigments, and a small amount of oil. It is the foundation of every painting he has made since.

The episode also spends time on the philosophical side of his practice, which is as deliberate as the technique. Ushioda talks about skin as a layered assembly of unexpected colors (a pale green glaze goes down first, with peach and pink added in stages), about painting as a conversation with one's own limitations, and about his longstanding interest in what he calls "prayer," a secular wish for the goodness of humanity. It is the kind of interview that clarifies why his portraits feel the way they do.

His 2023 Figurativas Grand Prize at the MEAM in Barcelona made him the first Asian artist to receive one of the most prestigious figurative painting awards in the world. The NHK feature arrives as his international profile continues to rise.

The episode first aired March 31, 2026 and is available to stream free on NHK World's website through March 31, 2027. We recommend watching it while you can.

Abend Gallery is honored to represent Kazuya Ushioda. To inquire about available work, please reach out to the gallery.