Tam Ochiai was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa in 1967. He moved to the United States in 1990 after graduating from Wako University, and completed his M.A in New York University in 1993. He currently lives and works in New York.

His major exhibitions include, “Criterium 16: Tam Ochiai ‘Shopping bags’” (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, 1995); “MOT Annual: Fiction? Painting in the Age of the Virtual” (Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan, 2002), “Flashback” (Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, 2005); “The Door into Summer –The Age of Micropop” (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, 2006); “Winter Garden: The Exploration of the Micropop Imagination in Contemporary Japanese Art” (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo [touring Japanisches Kulturinstitut, Cologne, 2009, and numerous other venues]; “spies are only revealed when they get caught” (WATARIUM Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 2010); and “Yokohama Triennale 2011: Our Magic Hour” (Yokohama Museum of Art, NYK Waterfront Warehouse [BankART Studio NYK], Kanagawa, Japan). For the 2016 exhibition re wild(e) (ARATANIURANO, Tokyo), Ochiai engaged in new attempts such as his work with film director Hiroyuki Oki in which the two collaborate in the production of drawings, video, and onsite three-dimensional works. The “Ashtray Sculptures” presented at this exhibition were also featured in his 2017 solo show Tarragon, Like a Cat’s Belly at Team Gallery in New York, attracting much attention.

Ochiai’s works are housed in the collections of The National Museum of Art, Osaka, The Japan Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Deutsche Bank, and the Takahashi Collection.