Biography

Painter. Born in Kitakyushu City. In 1968, began his activity as a member of “Shudan Kumo (Collective Kumo [Spider]).” Once the members were soon narrowed down to three, the group began to stage performances that rejected all artistic representations—not only the existing art associations and authoritarian ideas, but even the avant-garde artists around them. Via being arrested during a protest and then put to trial, its radical movement came to a close in 1973. In 1988, after a fifteen-year silence, Moriyama suddenly exhibited a series of oil paintings done in a single shade of silver. For a time, his painting style took the path toward denying the act of painting itself. However, as he continued to create different series, such as “Object in Nonexistence” and “Nirvana of the Lens,” his works gradually regained painterly elements, and he also produced figurative paintings. In 2018, his large-scale retrospective exhibition was held at our museum.