Profile and practice
Yusuke Saitoh works across illustration, music and film artwork, books and painting. roidworksgallery introduces his works on canvas.
Profile
Born in 1978. After graduating in illustration from Vantan Design Institute in 2003, he began working freelance. Centering his practice on digital painting, he works across magazines, book design, record covers and film publicity artwork.
Selected projects
- Created MUSIC MAGAZINE covers from the April 2008 issue through March 2014.
- Created cover artwork for Kazuya Yoshii, Nulbarich, Mrs. GREEN APPLE, ELLEGARDEN and others.
- Created publicity artwork for the films Booksmart and MEN.
- Announced a collaboration with YOHJI YAMAMOTO in 2017.
Key series and artistic practice
Chack and the Girl
The series began with a painting of a girl holding a cat for the 2019 charity exhibition Cat Power. Saitoh developed its world into his 2020 solo exhibition, Chack and the Girl.
In his own writing, he describes discovering the personalities of the cat and girl while painting, and developing the expression through experiments with paint and line. Differences in appearance and technique become scenes gathered from everyday life over several years, leading to recollections of the time the cat and girl spent together.
Painting, music and moving image
In 2020, he worked on video for the band HiGE alongside paintings for his solo exhibition. He reflects that making paintings and video in parallel stimulated each practice.
This account of his practice is summarized by roidworksgallery from the artist’s own text published in 2020.Read the artist’s text on Chack, the girl, Gizmo and himself ↗
Explore works on canvas
These two works were presented by roidworksgallery at ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2026. Explore the full images and the details on each artwork page.
Selected solo exhibitions
Selected solo exhibitions from 2004 to 2025, listed from most recent to earliest.
- 2025「Tide of Youth」 / tHE GALLERY HARAJUKU (Tokyo)
- 2024「Chack and the Girl in the Golden Days」 / Popularity gallery & studio (Tokyo)
- 2023「AMY」 / L’illustre Galerie LE MONDE (Tokyo)
- 2022「Chack and the Girl in Wonderland」 / Popularity gallery & studio (Tokyo)
- 2020「Chack and the Girl 」 / Popularity gallery & studio (Tokyo)
- 2017「Sunlights」 / L’illustre Galerie LE MONDE (Tokyo)
- 2015「Primitive.」 / L’illustre Galerie LE MONDE (Tokyo)
- 2013「MM2」 / Gallery Speak For (Tokyo)
- 2012「NEW COLOR」 / Tambourin Gallery (Tokyo)
- 2011「MUSIC MAGAZINE」 / Tambourin Gallery (Tokyo)
- 2009「Shine Shine Shine」 / Gallery Speak For (Tokyo)
- 2007「SUNNY HOURS」 / tray (Tokyo)
- 2004「POSITIVITY」 / Nook Caffe (Tokyo)
Awards
- 2004Grand Prize, Professional Division, TIS Competition #4
- 2003First-place selection, Choice Digital
Books and publications
An anthology of illustration and a comic about a cat and a girl offer two different ways into Saitoh’s practice.
YOUTHQUAKE
Yusuke Saitoh anthology
This anthology traces approximately twenty years of work. It includes magazine and book covers, music artwork, film publicity and original exhibition pieces. The range extends from digital painting to hand-painted works and drawings.
Author: Yusuke Saitoh
Publisher: Genkosha
Publication date: January 31, 2023
B5, 168 pages
ISBN: 9784768317235
Chack and the Girl
His first comic
A story about Amy, a girl who moves from Los Angeles to Yokohama. Expanding the cat-and-girl series into a comic, it depicts the time before adolescence and the light and darkness the girl encounters.
Author: Yusuke Saitoh
Publisher: Two Virgins / Michikusa Comics
Publication date: November 13, 2024
A5, paperback, 216 pages
ISBN: 9784867910306
Cover images and bibliographical information come from the publishers’ official pages. Book descriptions are summarized and edited by roidworksgallery.
With roidworksgallery
This page includes LET’S ROLL, Blue Cap, Green Cardigan, Hi and YEAH, presented at ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2026. Each artwork page provides its year, medium, dimensions and current availability.
ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2026 exhibition record
Official websites, social media and reading
Explore the artist’s own updates, earlier interviews and exhibition records for more background on his work.
The artist’s official websites and social media
- Official website | Illustration and artwork ↗
- Official website | Original works ↗
- Official profile | Solo exhibitions and awards ↗
- Instagram | @saitoh_yusuke ↗
- X (formerly Twitter) | @saitoh_yusuke ↗
- Behance | Portfolio ↗
Read the artist’s words
YOUTHQUAKE publication interview (2023)
He discusses changes across twenty years of work, his approach to depicting people, details in Chack and the Girl, and making the anthology.
Read the interview at illustration-mag ↗
Developing a style and its relationship with music (2013)
An interview accompanying the MM2 solo exhibition, covering digital methods, his path into illustration and the relationship between music and painting.
Read the interview at GALLERY SPEAK FOR ↗
The artist’s text on Chack, the girl, Gizmo and himself (2020)
The artist’s own account of the series and video production.
Read the artist’s note ↗
Profile and exhibition records
- Tokyo Illustrators Society | Profile and works ↗
- tHE GALLERY HARAJUKU | Tide of Youth exhibition record (2025) ↗
- Fender | Exhibition and book launch event (2024) ↗
The social accounts are listed on the artist’s official website. Articles and exhibition records describe their original publication periods. roidworksgallery has checked the sources and summarized and edited the profile and activity information.
Artwork and purchase inquiries
We can advise individually on condition, shipping, framing and other details for your consideration.Inquire about works by Yusuke Saitoh
