Born with both hands and both feet disabled, Ryo has written with a brush in his mouth to express himself since he was 8 years old.
He tried various arts, and at 17 he started a rock band.
Ryo strived to find work, but with his physical disabilities, jobs seemed to stay out of reach. So, with money that he saved from his rock band, he founded C-FLOWER, in which he is the CEO.
After beginning the C-FLOWER venture, he made drawing his life’s work. Ryo wanted to complete his works on his own, so he chose pencil drawing as his art – black pencil on white drawing paper. He was able to discover limitless possibilities with just these two opposite colors. His solo exhibitions are often titled “Black & White.”
In November 2007, he held his first solo exhibition, in Aomori, Japan. With favorable coverage in local newspapers, the exhibition was well received. His art creation was also featured on the Japanese TV news program NEWS ZERO.
In May 2016, he held a 10-day solo exhibition of the culmination of his works at the Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum, which was viewed by about 2000 people. Since then, unaccompanied and away from home, Ryo has held solo exhibitions all over Japan. Because of his disabilities, at each venue he makes friends who assist him.
In October 2019, he went alone to New York, and with help of New Yorkers returned home safely to Japan.
Ryo wants to look upon and take in all the scenery that he has not yet seen, and cherish the connections made with the people that he meets.