Naotaka Hiro was born in 1972 in Osaka, Japan, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He received his BA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1997, and earned his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 2000. Hiro’s work has been widely exhibited in the United States and internationally, including presentations at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Hammer Museum; the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena; LAXART; and the Centre d’Art Contemporain La Ferme du Buisson in France. His works are held in the permanent collections of major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, as well as the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Hiro has received grants and awards from organizations including the Art Matters Foundation and the Asian and Pacific Islander Artist Presenting Initiative.