Narcolepsy1999
Born in 1999. Based in Yokohama, Japan.
She blends manga and anime styles with ukiyoe to create "today's BIJINGA". Her "Dark Series" draws inspiration from Impressionist paintings of the mid-1800s to early 1900s, merging Western art with traditional Japanese themes, and has gained recognition both locally and internationally.
In addition to oil and acrylic on canvas, she produces digital art and some works featuring mirrors and scrap wood. Narcolepsy1999 aims to evoke the feeling of "love at first sight" in her pieces, believing that captivating art compels viewers to keep looking.
Narcolepsy1999 has participated in numerous exhibitions both domestically and internationally. Since 2022, she has actively exhibited her work in cities like Boston, Shanghai, New York, Taiwan and South Korea.
During her first International art fair appearance in Taipei, TAIWAN (2025), she was nominated for its award, remaining in the top 10, resulting all her works getting sold out. Also successfully showcased her popularity as an artist. Despite dealing with her diagnoses of narcolepsy and having limited waking hours, her art expression is highly concentrated and which makes viewers immediately captivated.
The name Narcolepsy1999 reflects her personal experience with hypersomnia, narcolepsy, which she developed in 2020.
Nowadays, most Japanese people don't even understand the rules or how to play, but Hanafuda has been continuously passed down with a design that hasn't changed since ancient times. It's not so much about its fun or functionality, but rather that "its very existence" is highly valued. For someone like Narcolepsy, whose main theme is "value" and "importance" in everyday life, this was incredibly captivating.
Nintendo, which is now famous worldwide with Switch2, also has a story of starting from selling Hanafuda in its early days. She wants to share this story with the world through her work.
Additionally, it might be influenced by the fact that one of her favorite movies is "Summer Wars", where the characters battle using Hanafuda cards, adding another layer to her fascination.