Art for Animation: Shūichi Kusamori
October 16, 2025 to March 15, 2026
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM, free admission
Riekeles Gallery, Am Bassin 10, 14467 Potsdam, Germany
From October 16, 2025 to March 15, 2026, Riekeles Gallery will present the first solo exhibition of Shūichi Kusamori.
Born in Kanagawa in 1961, Kusamori is a leading Art Director of Japanese animated films. For more than forty years, his images have shaped what we know today as “anime.” He is particularly renowned for his extremely detailed depictions.
Exclusively for this exhibition, the artist has created a new series of four original paintings inspired by China Miéville’s novel Perdido Street Station. At the heart of the exhibition are Kusamori’s original pencil drawings for his graphic novel Fuyū no Ō (The Winter King, Graphic-Sha, 2018). To mark the occasion, Riekeles Gallery will also publish three new solegraphs of the artist’s work for Innocence (2004), presented alongside the recently released solegraphs of his backgrounds for Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Metropolis (2001).
Opening: Wednesday, October 15, 6:00 pm,
in the presence of the artist, free admission
Exhibition dates: October 16, 2025 – March 15, 2026
Thu., Fri., Sat., 12–6 pm, free admission
Venue: Riekeles Gallery, Am Bassin 10, 14467 Potsdam
Shūichi Kusamori’s original pencil drawings for his graphic novel Fuyū no Ō (jp.: 冬の王, engl.: The Winter King, published by Graphic-Sha, 2018) reveal his unmistakable artistic signature – an extraordinary devotion to detail..
Partner Exhibition at the
Mori-Ōgai Memorial, Berlin
In parallel with the exhibition at Riekeles Gallery, the Mori-Ōgai Memorial in Berlin will also present an exhibition dedicated to Shūichi Kusamori. This partner exhibition focuses primarily on the series of pencil drawings that Kusamori created for his graphic novel The Winter King (Fuyū no Ō, Tokyo: Graphic-Sha, 2018). The work is based on the short story Der Erling by German writer Hans Land (Berlin: S. Fischer, 1911), which was translated into Japanese in 1912 by Mori Ōgai under the title Fuyū no Ō (冬の王, The Winter King) and became highly popular in Japan.
The Mori-Ōgai Memorial of Humboldt University in Berlin is located in the former residence of the Japanese writer Mori Ōgai on Luisenstraße. It commemorates his time in Germany from 1884 to 1888 and documents the life and work of the author.
The exhibition at the Mori-Ōgai Memorial will be on view from October 17, 2025 until October 2026.
Opening: Thursday, October 16, 6:00 pm, in the presence of the artist, free admission
Exhibition dates: Tue.–Fri., 12–4 pm; Thu. 12–6 pm. Admission is free.
Venue: Mori-Ōgai-Gedenkstätte, Luisenstraße 39, 10117 Berlin
About the Artist –
Shūichi Kusamori
Shūichi Kusamori (b. 1961, Kanagawa) is one of Japan’s foremost Art Directors in animation. For more than four decades, his images have defined the look and feel of what we know today worldwide as “anime.”
After graduating from Tokyo Designer Gakuin, he contributed to seminal films including Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Patlabor: The Movie (1989), and Ghost in the Shell (1995). As Art Director, he shaped the visual universes of Metropolis (2001), Innocence (2004, Cannes Film Festival), xxxHOLiC: A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005, Annecy), and the internationally acclaimed PSYCHO-PASS series (2012–2023).
Kusamori stands out for his ability to create imaginative, otherworldly settings with striking realism. While most background artists paint from concepts developed by others, he conceives his own visions, imbuing films with a unique atmosphere. His work is marked by an almost obsessive attention to detail: every stroke contributes to a rich, immersive whole. Viewers often sense not only the technical mastery but also the artist’s deep immersion in his worlds, raising questions of how long each piece took and how much patience was required to achieve such density.
With his rare combination of vision, craftsmanship, and devotion, Shūichi Kusamori has developed a personal artistic language that continues to captivate audiences and inspire the field of animation.
Exclusively for this exhibition, Shūichi Kusamori has created a new series of four original paintings inspired by China Miéville’s novel Perdido Street Station. All four works will be available to purchase.
Available artwork
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