Born 1975 in Aichi Prefecture (Japan), based in Aichi Prefecture.

Exhibiting mainly in Nagoya since 2005, but in recent years has increasingly been showing work outside Aichi Prefecture. Niimi takes 10-meter pieces of Kent paper and covers them in fine, continuous lines drawn with water-based pens, a style rarely adopted by other artists. The lines are achieved without the help of any mechanical device, yet the width of each remains constant. Niimi lovingly calls this Uranus, the image of the god who appears in Greek mythology. In his series entitled "Dog", he repeats the same image again and again. In what appears to be a print, the thick line drawings are an enlargement of a smaller one, enlarged on a copying machine and the result carefully cut with a blade to create a template over which he applies a thick layer of acrylic paint. At Aichi 2013, he plans to show works from this "Template" series.

《Dog-9 (Large)》2010 courtesy of Gallery Ham and Yumiko Chiba Associates