Roamcouch

Gifu, Japan

Ryo Ogawa (b. 1976, Gifu, Japan), known as RoamCouch, is a street artist and contemporary Ukiyo-e painter whose practice elevates stencil art into a highly refined visual language. Influenced by Japanese manga and trained in design from the age of 18, he later committed fully to art following a life-changing illness. Since 2011, RoamCouch has produced intricate, romantic compositions using over fifty layers of hand-cut stencils, exhibiting widely in Japan and internationally. Through his Emotional Bridge Project, he revitalises public space, fusing stencil technique with Mino washi in a “Neo Ukiyo-e” approach.