Profile

Aquirax Uno / Uno Akira
Illustrator and graphic designer.

Uno was born in 1934 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and graduated from the design course of Nagoya City Industrial Arts High School. In 1955 he moved to Tokyo, where he worked at Calpis Food Industry Co., Nippon Design Center, Studio Ilfil and Studio Re before going freelance. His career as an exceptionally talented illustrator began in the 1950s, working on corporate advertising, theatre posters and book illustration projects. In the 1960s he leapt into the limelight as a wunderkind handling posters and stage design for underground theatres such as Experimental Theatre Lab Tenjo Sajiki. He has served as a curator of exhibitions and an artistic director for stage productions since the 1990s. More recently, he has been creating collaborative works involving haiku, and he remains active in a broad range of areas today. Awards received include the 1956 Japan Advertising Artists Club (JAAC) Special Selection, 1960 JAAC Members’ Award, 1982 Kodansha Cultural Illustration Award, 1989 Sanrio Art Award, 1992 Akai Tori Illustration Award, 2008 Japan Picture Book Award, 2013 JAF (Japan Advertising Federation) Japan Advertising Awards Yamana Prize and 2015 Yomiuri Theater Awards Selection Committee Special Prize. In 1999 he received the Japanese Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon and in 2010 he received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette.

Major publications include Akira Uno Masquerade (Bijutsu Shuppan, 1982), Bara No Kioku (Tokyo Shoseki, 2000), Oku no Yokomichi (Genkishobou, 2009), Akira Uno Chronicle (Graphic-sha, 2014). Books illustrated include Anoko (by Imae Yoshitomo, Rironsha, 1966), Boku wa Heitaro (by Ozawa Tadashi, Fukuinkan Shoten, 1994), and Maimai to Nainai (by Minagawa Hiroko, Iwasaki Shoten, 2011). Numerous solo exhibitions include presentations at Kariya City Art Museum, Bunkamura Gallery and Ginza Graphic Gallery.