Career
Prior to moving to the United States, Hibi trained as a stage and film actor as well as a filmmaker in Japan. In 1988, Hibi moved to New York City, knowing very little English, to further his acting career. Foreign him, the city was bleak, grimy and alienating, the New York of “Taxi Driver” and “Midnight Cowboy,” gritty films he had watched as a teenager in Japan.
As an import he found himself to be a natural outsider to the culture he was trying to become a part of.
He began making photographs and within that work he evoked a sense of longing and isolation and understanding of things that often are overlooked. He returned to Japan in the early 1990s to find everything he once had known had changed, himself included.
He continued to photograph in Japan with a similar "film noir" undertone. These New York and Japan photos were published by Nazraeli Press in a 2005 monograph titled "Imprint."
In 2008, Nazraeli Press published another monograph by Yuichi Hibi, titled "Neco." Over many years, Hibi photographed cats at rest, play, and on the hunt.
Not simply documenting the cats, Hibi captures the essence of being a feline.
Hibi"s photographic work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Meanwhile, Hibi continues to seek roles in film making. In 2001, he directed a documentary on photographer Robert Frank, "A Weekend with Mr.
Frank".
A companion book to A Weekend with Mr. Frank was released by Nazraeli Press in fall 2006 as part of their One Picture Book series. 2013 Yuichi Hibi: Salt of the Earth, only photography, Berlin, Germany
2009 Yuichi Hibi: Neco, Gallery 339, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2009 Yuichi Hibi: Neco, Michael Dawson Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2007 Yuichi Hibi: imprint, Art Labor Gallery, Shanghai, China
2006 Yuichi Hibi: imprint Onishi Galley, New York, New York
2006 Yuichi Hibi: imprint, Michael Dawson Galley, Los Angeles, California
2006 Yuihci Hibi: imprint, Gallery 339, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2004 Yuichi Hibi: imprint, Staton-Greenberg Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
2003 Yuichi Hibi: Zero Hour, Marvelli Gallery, New York, New York, New York
2001 Yuichi Hibi: imprint, Gallery Space Sushiden, New York, New York
2001 Yuichi Hibi: imprint, Marvelli Gallery, New York, New York
2009 9 Years, Fifty-One Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium
2008 Accrochage, Fifty-One Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium
2008 Book Dummies, Education Galleries, International Center of Photography, New York, New York
2008 PARIS PHOTO, Paris, France
2008 Ten: Gifts of SBMA Photo Futures, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California
2007 Branching Out, SEPIA International Incorporated., New York, New York
2007 AIPAD-Miami, Florida
2007 PHOTO-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
2006 AIPAD-New York, New York, New York
2006 PHOTO-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
2003 Faces, SEPIA International Incorporated., New York, New York
2003 The Gift Show, Staton-Greenberg Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
2002 Land, Staton-Greenberg Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
2002 The Armory Photography Show, New York, New York
2001 Dream Street, SEPIA International Incorporated., New York, New York
1993 Center for the Arts “Collectors’ Choice”, Saint St. Petersburg, Florida
1993 Monique Goldstrom Gallery, New York, New New York