Yuken Teruya was born in Okinawa, Japan in 1973. Yuken received his BFA from Tama Art University, Tokyo in 1996, and his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2001.

He has shown at the Guggenheim, New York, the Biennale of Sydney, Greater New York 2005 at MoMA PS.1, Shanghai Biennale, Saatchi Gallery London, Moscow Biennale, Yokohama Triennale, the US Ambassador's House, Tokyo, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan, and in various other exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Asia.

His work is included in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Guggenheim, New York; Flag Art Foundation, New York; the Charles Saatchi Collection, London; Ethnological Museum/Asian Art Museum Berlin, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; and the Mori Art Museum, Japan, among others.