Ryoko Kimura

In 2007, Christie's reported that her painting of Beauty of My Dish, which was of a man's body dish for L'opera gateau au chocolat was sold at auction for HKD 247,500.

Kimura frequently depicts the motif of ikemen (good-looking men) and notes her inspiration from "Johnny's boys", a male entertainment and talent agency famous in Japan. Though her backgrounds and Nihonga style appear quite conservative and hearken back to Muromachi Period works, her modern human subjects and inversion of the male-gaze from Bijin-ga demonstrate her contemporary influences. She is also inspired by stained glass of Christian art, which she studied before seriously pursuing painting from 2003. In an essay, Kimura compares the black sumi ink outlines of Nihonga to the thick linework in stained glass windows.

Ryoko Kimura (木村了子, Kimura Ryoko, born 1971) is a Japanese contemporary artist who works in Nihonga painting. She studied at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, graduating from the oil painting course in 1995, and earning her Master's Degree in 1997. Her artwork subject matter is traditional Bijin-ga (literally "beautiful person picture") but rather than depicting women, she instead observes the male figure from the "sexual gaze from a heterosexual female standpoint." Her artwork has been exhibited in Japan, Taiwan, China, France, Germany, and USA.