About Ulala Imai

Ulala Imai was born in 1982 in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, where she continues to live and work. She received her undergraduate degree with a concentration in painting from Tama Art University in 2004. She was raised in a creative household where her father, Shingo Imai, painted in the Western tradition. With his encouragement, she started painting at an early age and was exposed firsthand to pre-modern and modern painters during family trips to Europe.

Imai’s recent solo exhibitions include The Scene, Karma, New York, NY (2022); Reminiscence, Union Pacific, London (2022); Melody, Parco Museum, Tokyo (2021); Hola Strangers, Lulu, Mexico City, Mexico (2021); Amazing, Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles (2020). Selected group exhibitions include Public Private, curated by Jareh Das, Pond Society, Shanghai, China (2023); The Postmodern Child, Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan, Korea (2023); Blue Wind, High Art, Arles, France (2023); La proie et l’ombre, Crèvecoeur, Paris, France (2022); Bodyland, Max Hetzler, Berlin, Germany (2022); VOCA, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2021); Still Time, Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris, France (2021); and Natsuyasumi: In the Beginning Was Love, Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles, CA, USA (2021). Ulala Imai’s artworks are included in the permanent collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; the High Museum, Atlanta, GA, USA; He Art Museum, Guangdong Province, China; and Space K/ Kolon Museum, Seoul, Korea.