Ryo Ogawa, better known as RoamCouch, was born in Gifu, Japan in 1976. An innovative street artist influenced by Japanese comics, he began to draw in his childhood, and started working as a designer at the age of 18. Afterward, he was diagnosed with a serious illness, which led him to reflect upon his life and career and, ultimately, to make up his mind to become an artist.

In 2011, now dubbed “RoamCouch”, he began his transition into a full-time artist. He produces his exquisite and romantic works of art by using over fifty different layers of hand-cut stencil, which have been exhibited at both solo and group exhibitions domestically and internationally. His nuanced and rich stencil paintings redefined the stereotypical image of stencil art. In 2014, he opened his first solo show titled “A Beautiful Life” in New York which achieved amazing popularity, resulting in the entire collection being sold out.

RoamCouch started a project named “Emotional Bridge Project” in 2014 where he painted murals voluntarily to revitalize his hometown. His goal is to attract art fans to his hometown by exhibiting his works of art in a public context. 

Calling his new style “Neo Ukiyo-e”, RoamCouch works on art pieces to clearly indicate Ukiyo-e of modern times by blending stencil art with Japanese handmade paper “Mino washi”.