Biography

Painter. Born in Tokyo. In 1953, studied under painter Saburo Hasegawa. His early still lifes inclined toward the styles of Giorgio Morandi and Paul Cézanne. From around 1956, he became conscious of the flatness of painting, and created works using irregular, abstract patterns, or those composed of rectangles and squares. He then embarked on the “Work” series to examine the possibilities of this style. In 1958, he held his first solo exhibition. From around 1960, he shifted to multicolored, horizontal-stripe painting. From around 1975, his square grid-form in intermediate colors was further developed to works in which he layered rough brushstrokes in grids. In 1987, he participated in many exhibitions held at home and abroad, including the 19th São Paulo Art Biennial in 1987. In his later years, he created the “Color” series in which he evenly applied paint of a single shade of color across the entire canvas.