Born in Niigata Prefecture, Japan in 1964. Maruyama creates unique paintings that are both figurative and abstract, with motifs soaking into the canvas by using the staining technique, in which water is applied directly to the canvas without any underpainting. Maruyama continues to explore spaces where landscapes and people harmoniously integrated together with soft light and shadow, which are only possible to express through painting. Since his debut in the 1990s, he has been highly regarded as one of the most important painters in Japan and has continued his works actively. His major exhibitions include “MOT Annual” (Museum of Contemporary Art,Tokyo, 1999), “Happiness: A Survival Guide For Art + Life” (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2003), “Maruyama Naofumi – The Front in the Back” (Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo, 2008), “Floating Boat” (Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, 2011), “Domani: The Art of Tomorrow” (The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2022), etc. He received the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists in 2008. He is currently a specially appointed professor of the Department of Oil Painting at Musashino Art University and resides in Tokyo.