Since the 1970s, Makoto Saito has garnered attention both inside and outside Japan for his innovative works as a cutting-edge graphic designer, which have challenged and overturned conventional collage methods. He has won the Museum of Modern Art Award twice, in 1979 at the Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan, one of the country’s major contemporary art exhibitions. In addition, Saito’s works have been exhibited and collected in 34 countries across the world, including prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco).

As a contemporary artist, Saito has showcased numerous artworks various at contemporary art exhibitions. Following his major retrospective exhibition, Makoto Saito: Scene [0] in 2008 at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan, he made the decision to retire from graphic design and pursue a career as a full-time artist. Saito’s creative process is characterised by his meticulous attention to detail and originality. He takes inspiration from films that influenced him during his formative years and reconstructs them using digital technologies on the computer. Notable filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini serve as significant influences, and his work elicits a sense of visual nostalgia while also exploring the unknown possibilities of digital painting.