Yu Kuramitsu (1990, Kanagawa) is a Japanese visual artist. She started taking private art lessons at Atelier Kawado at the age of 10 to study Fine Arts. She enhanced her sensibility painting by oil or pastel for 12 years of Ms. Kawado's lessons. When she was 12 years old, her grandfather passed away who she loved. A short moment after her grandfather's death brought her to the way to think about life and death. Additionally, because of her weak hearing in childhood, she saw painting was a way to express feeling and thought. Since then, she has been pursuing how the spirit reflects a painting.


Kuramitsu went to Yaei East high school to study Fine Arts. To train art skill, she and the other art students went to Italy. While they were flying to Italy, she saw beautiful Siberian mountains covered with snow and a small church. This moment never went away from her memory. 2 years after this moment, she participated in the Japan-Russia Student Forum. The Russian students urged her to go to Russia. In 2010, she first visited Saint Petersburg, Russia. Then, Kuramitsu decided in her mind to paint in Saint Petersburg.


In 2012, Kuramitsu finally received a chance to participate in artist in residency in Pushkinskaya-10, Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her exhibition achieved to be part of the event "Japanese Spring" supported by Japanese Consulate in Saint Petersburg.
Since she was attracted to the beautiful Russian city and people’s empathy, she again had a collective exhibition at the Museum of Non-Conformist Art, Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2015. This exhibition was part of the art festival “New Names” supported by the Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation.


Kuramitsu’s paintings using oil, acrylic, pastel or ink express human's spirits?joy in the relationship, happiness in the daily life, agony and sorrow in the depth of the heart. She enjoys painting a family or human to express these emotions. Her art is mostly abstract, and every scene on her paintings comes from her imagination. Colors she uses harmonize each other so they do not give a discomfort feeling to the viewers. Her paintings are always soft as she believes that human's heart sometimes needs to be soft to harmonize in this society. Her art with invisible strokes expresses a beauty of harmony.


Kuramitsu’s work has been exhibited at museums, contemporary art center and galleries.


Solo exhibition includes:
Art-Centre Pushikinskaya-10, Saint Petersburg, Russia.


Grope exhibitions include:
The Museum for Non-Conformist Art, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Chie Art Gallery, Milan, Italy; Art Labo Hashimoto Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan; Sagamihara citizen's gallery, Kanagawa, Japan.
Exhibitions held by receiving awards include:
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Kanagawa Prefectural Civic Hall, Yokohama, Japan; The School Board in Yokohama City, Yokohama, Japan.


Kuramitsu has been the recipient of awards including:
2012-2013 Art-Centre Pushkinskaya-10 International Residency Award, Saint Petersburg, Russia; 2007 competition for all students in Japan (Gakuten in Japanese); 2006 competition for high school students in Kanagawa Prefecture; 2007 competition held by Tokai University; 2005&2007 competition for all students in Japan(Zennihon Gakusei Bijutsuten in Japanese); 2005 Stop Tobacco competition held by high school safety promoted association in Kanagawa Prefecture.