Masakazu Kondo

Born in Osaka in 1980, Masakazu Kondo began his studies at the Kyoto University of Art and Design before continuing at the Kunstakademie Münster in 2005. In 2009, he became a master student of the internationally renowned artist and professor Katharina Fritsch and transferred to the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf in 2010, where he still lives and works today.

Kondo's large-scale drawings exhibit every minute detail with the precision reminiscent of naturalists from past centuries. In a perfection that connects to classical traditions, his images depict animals, and rarely plants, isolated against indifferent backgrounds. What initially appears to be a photograph reveals itself upon closer inspection to be a drawing made with a ballpoint pen, a commonly overlooked disposable item. Delicate lines coalesce into bird feathers, fish, or zebras, appearing so three-dimensional that it is only upon a second, closer look that the fine strokes of the pens become visible, through which Masakazu Kondo meticulously transforms these often just a few centimeters small animals into monumental works.