Kenichi Aoyama's work remind the viewers of fun and warm childhood memories. The themes of his work are based on adventure and curiosity which he still considers to be an important part of his life even as an adult. Aoyama researches various objects he has interests in and paints them in cute, light-hearted imaginary scenes. Interestingly, Aoyama mainly uses mineral pigments typically used for traditional Japanese paintings called Nihonga. As the mineral pigments are made by crushing valuable minerals and gemstones such as lapis lazuli, malachite, and azurite these paintings are often referred to as “gemstone paintings.”