Shingo Katori

Katori was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa and moved to Tokyo to pursue his career. He has one younger brother. "I’ve always loved painting for as long as I can remember," he said in an interview in his first book of illustration collection. He thinks he came to like painting because of the family background (his father was an art dealer). Katori displayed his artistic talent also at SMAP's concerts. He became in charge for staging of the concert tours, beginning from "super.modern.artistic.performance" (2008) through "We are SMAP" (2010) and "Gift of SMAP" (2012) until "Mr. S – saikou de saikou no CONCERT TOUR" (2014).

Katori has been creating and engaged in various artworks and projects:

Painting on Tsugaru Railway's train car (1997). As a special project in the SMAP's long-run television variety show, “SMAPxSMAP”, Katori painted a train car together with local children. After the car ended its service in 2000, it was kept at Kanagi Station for the purpose of exhibition, then moved to Kase Station. In 2017, 20 years after the painting was made, Katori visited the Kase Station again in a TV show (“Oja MAP!!”) in order to restore the work. The car is now one of the touristic attractions in the region and visited by Katori's fans.

Shingo no Itazura, an illustration collection book (1998), contains pictures published on magazine Wink Up and some new works created for this book.

SNAP NO SHINGO, a photo diary for the period of one year from 16 October 2004 until 15 October 2005. The pictures were originally taken for "SmaTIMES" weekly paper published by a TV news variety show "SmaSTATION".

Painting "Takarabako" ("Treasure Box", 2011). Appointed as an ambassador for a Cirque du Soleil show called "Kooza" in Japan, he painted a picture on a large canvas (1,800 x 1,500 mm), featuring characters and contents of the show. The painting was exhibited in the foyer during the Kooza's performance in Japan.

Artwork "Kūsō Tamago" ("Fantasy Egg", 2014). After successful mission for "Kooza", Katori was again appointed as an ambassador for the next Cirque du Soleil"s performance in Japan, "OVO" and created an artwork featuring its motive "ovo", which means an "egg" in Portuguese. The artwork accompanied the show around Japan.

Fashion Photo Book Fuku Baka Shifukubon (roughly "a book of happiest private wardrobe of a fashion freak", 2014). A photo book featuring Katori, known as a fashion freak, in his private clothes, coordinated by a noted fashion stylist, Tomoki Sukezane. For this book, Katori's private wardrobe was transported from his flat to the photo studio by two 2-ton trucks. The estimated total value of the "collection" built-up over 15 years was 200 million Yen.

Art Exhibition "Museum of Together" held by The Nippon Foundation, at Aoyama Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan for 13–31 October 2017. With other 22 artists, Katori joined in the exhibition with his two paintings, "Hinotori" ("Fire Bird", 2014) and "Isoge mada maniau" ("Hurry Up, We Are Going to Be on Time", 2010). It was his first participation in an art exhibition.

A special exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of Cartier’s icon watch TANK, at Cartier in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, Japan for 28 October – 26 November 2017. Inspired by the legendary timepiece of the French luxury brand, Katori created a painting and an art work.

Graffiti in Hong Kong, at the corner of Hollywood Road and Shalley Street, Old Town Central, unveiled on 27 March 2018. Requested by Hong Kong Tourism Board, a government-subvented body, Katori completed the graffiti on a 4.5m-high and 6m-wide wall beside the Mid-Levels Escalator within 18 hours. As the project was to be kept confidential, he worked with the covered wall for 3 continuous nights from midnight until 6 am.

Exhibition "NAKAMA de ART" at the Imperial Hotel Plaza, Tokyo, Japan for 24 May – 24 June 2018. Together with 13 emerging artists he selected, Katori organized an art gallery under the name of "NAKAMA de ART". A literal translation of "nakama" is "buddy" or "mate", so the exhibition title could roughly mean "Let's do art together".

Car Wrapping on BMW X2 (2018). Appointed as a "Brand Friend" of a BMW's SUV model X2, Katori was featured in its concept movie (a part of which was streamed also as TV advertisement later) and designed the car wrapping. The wrapped vehicle was exhibited at some special events.

Fashion Brand and Permanent Pop-up Shop "jantje_ontembaar". Together with a noted stylist Tomoki Sukezane who knows Katori over 20 years, Katori started-up a fashion brand and opened its own boutique at the Imperial Hotel Plaza under concept "Permanent Pop-up Shop", meaning "a shop with ever changing contents for an unlimited period of time". The brand collaborates with well-respected manufacturers such as Sanyo Coat (by Sanyo Shokai), MINEDENIM and Borsalino. The brand name "jantje_ontembaar" comes from Dutch words "jantje" and "ontembaar" which are said to be origins of Japanese words "yancha" and "otenba", naughty boy and girl. With that, Katori and Sukezane want to encourage people to keep a heart of a child and think out-of-the-box.

Exhibition "NAKAMA des ARTS" in Hall Charles V in the Louvre Museum (Carrousel du Louvre), Paris, France for 19 September – 3 October 2018. Katori's first solo exhibition occurred within the framework of Japonismes 2018, a cultural festival organized by France and Japan to celebrate the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relation between the two countries.

Painting of Tokyo Tower. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Tokyo Tower, the national public broadcasting of Japan, NHK put a special program "Miagereba anata wa itsumo sokoni" ("Thank you for being there every time when I look up") on air on 22 December 2018. In this program, Katori painted a picture featuring the Tokyo Tower. Katori often says that he likes the Tokyo Tower very much and the tower has been encouraging him a lot since he started his career in show business as a 11-year-old boy. In this work, he put colors on a night scenic photo of Tokyo he took by himself. It was the first time he utilized this art technique. The painting was exhibited on the Main Deck of the Tokyo Tower for the period from 2 February until 8 March 2019, then in "boum! boum! boum!" (see below), Katori's first solo exhibition in Japan after the world's premiere in Paris, France in 2018.

Painting "New Year Woman". For the first issue of a triannual magazine, Shūkanbunshun Woman, launched on 29 December 2019, Katori created a picture on a 1303 x 970 mm canvas. Shūkanbunshun is a well-established weekly magazine started in 1959, published by a leading Japanese publishing company, Kabushikigaisha Bungeishunjū (Bungeishunjū Ltd.). Shūkanbunshun Woman is its special edition targeting female readers. The picture is to be seen in Katori's exhibition "boum! boum! boum!" (see below).

Blog "kūsō fantejī" ("fantasy" in Japanese and in French). Starting from 1 January 2019, he has been posting a short fantasy story almost every day with a black-and-white picture he paints. These pictures form a part of his exhibition "boum! boum! boum!" (see below).

Painting "Freedom Gan’nen" ("First Year of Freedom"), exhibited in front of Tokyo Midtown Hibiya for the New Year's period of 2 – 14 January 2019, then in "boum! boum! boum!" (see below). Four canvases were made to a one big square canvas with a side longer than 4 meters. The character the creation features stands for a "pig" as 2019 is a year of the pig in Japanese traditional calendar with twelve earthly branches.

Exhibition "boum! boum! boum!" for 15 March – 16 June 2019 in IHI Stage Around Tokyo in Toyosu, Tokyo. Katori's first solo exhibition in Japan after the world's premiere in Paris in 2018. The event title "boum! boum! boum!" stands for a pounding heart in French. The concept of the exhibition, which is designed more like a show than an art exhibition, is "Looking inside Shingo Katori". After watching a short film on the seats of the innovative theater, in which the audience area rotates 360 degrees, the visitors are requested to step on to the stage with three separate segments where Katori's art pieces are installed. The exhibition catalogue also includes Katori's talks with noted artists, Tadanori Yoko'o and Makoto Aida.