DŌ-KI: The Child Demon
Ogawa Yoichiro (1939-2002)

The Japanese painter Yoichiro Ogawa, also known as Dō-Ki (meaning “between the spirits and men”) was born in 1939 in Fukuoka, the heir to a dynasty of antique dealers. As a noted expert in Asian antiques, he was widely recognized as an eminent connoisseur in the field. After studying art, he painted his first works that were largely inspired by the French Fauve school. In 1968, he moved to Paris, visited the top Asian collections throughout Europe, and combed France for fine objects and treasures that were snapped up by Japanese and Chinese art dealers.

He then focused on his own artistic pursuits by settling in the Montparnasse district of Paris, where he painted his evocative gouache and oil paintings that are strongly surreal yet surprisingly poetic. He exhibited paintings at FIAC and the Salon d’Automne from 1976 to 1978, and he had several solo shows at the former Myrna Myers gallery in Paris. In 1991, under the patronage of the Ambassador to Japan, he mounted a major exhibition of sixty-five works at the Galerie Lancry. Shortly thereafter, Dō-Ki returned to Japan and settled in Nagoya, where he died in 2002.