Yuichiro Ando

Who is Yuichiro Ando?

Yuichiro Ando is a Japanese-American painter, video artist, and documentary film maker. He was born in Tokyo, Japan.

Ando moved to the U.S. in 1980. He studied at the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design where he earned his BFA. He also attended graduate school at UC Irvine School of Fine Arts and received his MFA. He has received several awards since.

While an undergraduate, Ando studied film and video art, leading him to work as a commercial producer and director. He has continued to create large size paintings for hotels and restaurants on a commission basis.

In 1997 Ando worked on a major documentary project on hemophiliacs and HIV. The documentary he produced resulted in a $100 million lawsuit by the pharmaceutical companies. This event led him to quit producing documentaries and he concentrated on his artwork, painting again in earnest. Ando’s paintings are heavily influenced by the harsh realities he has encountered and experienced in documentary making. He captures the reality, filters it and then expresses it in the abstract. His paintings reflect his raw emotions and realistic views of life.

ArtStorm writes: "When Yuchiro Ando rose to prominence in the world of Japanese Investigative television news producing, he found killer stories to tell. Lots of them.