Hiroyuki Matsuura, born in Tokyo in 1964, started his career as a graphic designer in the advertising industry. Since 1999, he has published a combination of posters, packaging and skateboards under the title "Character Illustration" and in 2005, Hiroyuki Matsuura began his first solo exhibition at Tokyo Gallery +BTAP, officially turning into a professional artist.
Hiroyuki Matsuura mainly works on the theme of Japanese anime culture, and his work has various forms including paintings, sculptures, and prints. Hiroyuki Matsuura has said that "Anime characters are both real and fictional beings", and that his memories of anime images have given him a different affection for anime characters rather than other beings. On one hand, anime characters exist in every corner of the world, enriching lives of humans and alleviating their loneliness. On the other hand, normally, people do not look closely at anime characters in their lives, let alone try to understand their existence and meaning. Hiroyuki Matsuura believes that anime characters should not be confined to comic book plots and ignored by the world. Instead, he believes that the virtual nature of anime characters can enable them to become hyper-linguistic beings that break down gender, cultural and historical barriers.
Through his artworks, Hiroyuki Matsuura hopes to provide anime characters the right and opportunity to communicate with human beings. His anime characters are always colourful and diverse, with distinctive character traits. His paintings always employ close-up techniques, stimulating viewers richer imaginations through partial renderings. Hiroyuki Matsuura's solo exhibition SUPER ACRYLIC SKIN-Quiet World was held at Sincere Gallery, Taipei in 2020. The series of artworks in this exhibition represent more of Hiroyuki Matsuura's reflections on the world situation at the present. Under the context of the stagnation of human activities and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, anime characters in Hiroyuki Matsuura's "Super Acrylic Skin" series always have an unmistakable determination in their eyes, expressing hopes for the future ahead (Quiet World, 2020).