Yuki Tanaka

Yuki Tanaka was born in Kyoto and trained at the Tokyo University of the Arts before spending three years as a residency artist in New York. It was there, in a cramped Brooklyn studio, that she discovered encaustic — the ancient technique of mixing pigment with heated beeswax.

Her practice is slow by design. A single large-scale work can take four to six months, built from dozens of wax layers, each one sanded back before the next is applied. The result is paintings that seem to hold light rather than reflect it — surfaces with a depth that photography struggles to capture.

Tanaka's work is held in private collections across Japan, the United States, and Germany. She lives and works in Tokyo, where she maintains a studio in the Yanaka district.