Ryoko Kumakura was born and lives in Tokyo, Japan. She learned oil painting in Tama Art University (B.A. 2014). After graduation, she took part in some group exhibitions and art fairs both in Japan and abroad. Her first commercial solo show PICTOMANCY was held in RED AND BLUE GALLERY in 2016. She was accepted for Gunma Art Biennale in 2018 which is a major competition for young artists in Japan. 

Kumakura’s works take the form of still-life paintings. She has studied the composition through making sketches of works by Flanders old masters in 17th century. Her works, however, are composed of reproductions such as symbols, illustrations and paper models: these objects are derived from pictures in various field guides and catalogues, which she has been interested in. 

That’s because Kumakura’s artistic theme centers on how people of each times tried to understand the world. 

Her subjects are images made by human beings to further understand the world, which are almost forgotten by people nowadays.
For example, she has focused on the shape of the Earth that ancients imagined, on animals which people used to worship in old times, on alchemy as one of the studies that had stopped developing, and so on.

Her still-life painting may be a model which represents the history of art and science.