Kotaro Abe was born in 1988 in Oita Prefecture, Japan. He completed his MFA in painting at Musashino Art University in 2015, and currently lives and works in Tokyo. Abe creates works using his own “paints” developed through mixing pigments and mediums with ingredients (such as black sesame, tapioca powder, etc.) found in the foods we eat every day. Born and raised in a family involved in the aquaculture trade, Abe’s unique creative process which draws its inspiration from the making of fish feed, had eventually evolved in a unique way, coupled with the artist's belief in quiet resistance to given rules and regulations.