Kenji Yanobe

Kenji Yanobe is the kind of artist who makes you stop and reconsider what sculpture even means. Born in Ibaraki, Osaka in 1965 and trained at Kyoto City University of Arts, he built a career around monumental, almost apocalyptic works — giant robots, survival suits, mutant suns — that feel like they crawled out of a post-nuclear fever dream and then somehow became hopeful. His Atom Suit Project, where he wandered Chernobyl in a homemade radiation suit, is the stuff of legend. There's a stubborn, wide-eyed kid energy running through everything he does, which is wild for someone this deep into a serious career. He's not a gallery-circuit darling chasing prestige; he's a craftsman who welds steel into feelings. That Osaka grit, that Kansai directness — you can feel it in the sheer physical ambition of his work. One of the most genuinely original artists Japan has produced.

Kenji Yanobe is a Japanese sculptor born on January 1, 1965, in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture. He studied at Kyoto City University of Arts, where he developed his artistic foundation. Known for large-scale, commanding sculptural works, he is regarded as a veteran presence in the contemporary Japanese art world. He was born in the Year of the Snake and is a Capricorn.

Name (English)

Kenji Yanobe

Name (Japanese)

ヤノベケンジ

Reading

やのべけんじ

Born

January 1, 1965 (age 61)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Snake (巳)

Origin

Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Sculptor

University

Kyoto City University of Arts

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A4%E3%83%8E%E3%83%99%E3%82%B1%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B8

Tags

• From Osaka Prefecture
• Sculptor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.