Ko-Hey! Arikawa

b. 1978 Japan

Japanese artist Ko-Hey! Arikawa, M.F.A. in Art Environment, Kyoto
University of the Arts. Spending his childhood in Okinawa with a big
family and life in the Americanized culture of Okinawa after the
reversion to mainland Japan seemed very bright to Arikawa, who has a
complicated upbringing. This experience is the root of the “sense of
happiness” expressed in Arikawa’s works.

Arikawa, who began his career by painting and selling artworks on
the street, has held the large-scale solo exhibition “Ko-Hey!
Arikawa EXPO®︎” every year since 2005, attracting over 12,000
visitors during the exhibition period with a long-standing following
among visitors of all ages. His representative work, “BEST FRIENDS
Matthew kun,” a boy with red hair, has become an icon known by all,
building bridges between people through various projects in Okinawa
and other parts of Japan.

Japanese artist Ko-Hey! Arikawa, M.F.A. in Art Environment, Kyoto
University of the Arts.

In 2023, he held a solo exhibition at the KARUIZAWA NEW ART
MUSEUM/Shiraishi Gallery.

Spending his childhood in Okinawa with a big family and life in the
Americanized culture of Okinawa after the reversion to mainland
Japan seemed very bright to Arikawa, who has a complicated
upbringing. This experience is the root of the “sense of happiness”
expressed in Arikawa’s works.

SOLO EXHIBITION

2023~2005 “KO-HEY! ARIKAWA EXPO”, Okinawa, moon terrace AGARIZAKI etc., Okinawa, Japan

2023 “MATTHEW’S CHOCOLATE PARK”, FELISSIMO CHOCOLATE MUSEUM, Kobe
2023 KO-HEY! ARIKAWA EXHIBITION HAPPY GO ROUND “YOU ARE MY POP STAR”, KARUIZAWA NEW ART MUSEUM, Nagano, Japan
2022 THE RITZ-CARLTON, OKINAWA×KO-HEY! ARIKAWA “THE ART EXPERIENCE”, THE RITZ-CARLTON, Okinawa, Japan
2022~2008 “POP⭐︎SHOP by KO-HEY! ARIKAWA”, OMOTESANDO HILLS, Tokyo, Japan
2008 “KO-HEY! ARIKAWA EXHIBITION”, HANKUK ART MUSEMUM, South Korea
2006 “KO-HEY! ARIKAWA EXHIBITION”, TOWEL MUSEUM ICHIHIRO, Ehime, Japan