FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KEIZABURO OKAMURA

April 1 – May 4, 2010
Opening Reception April 1, 6 – 8 pm

Keizaburo Okamura has in recent years become a standard-bearer for the new generation of contemporary Nihonga artists, attracting significant museum exhibitions for his monumental installations. Okamura’s work is made on huge cedar boards; the surface of the panel is burned, shaved and then planed to reveal the image. He then treats the panels with glue and dosa, and finally applies ocher clay and sand to the surface. His work explores innovative techniques previously unthinkable in the field of Nihonga. Okamura’s subjects range from mythological creatures to birds and elephants. However, even when drawing the more common animals, his approach is not realistic. He investigates the necessity of connecting human beings with nature, devoting his efforts to the creation of works that evoke vernacular traditions and customs. There is timelessness in his work, an impression that suggests both primitive art and spiritualism.

The fact that I was born in Japan and live in Japan is an important thing to me. And I try to give a structure to the imaginations that come from this land and culture. I draw animals which are an allegory of nature, life, atmospheric circulation, temperature, humidity, vegetation and our behavior living in this environment and abnormal climate that has resulted from our behavior … All these creatures, except birds, are covered in scales. For me, scales are a symbol of water and life and it expresses humidity in Japan and life that reside in it… I draw a lot of eyes. Eyes are an organ for seeing things. We are able to know and understand many things through the eye. And I think this leads to reason. So, I draw eyes as a symbol of human reason.
 -- K. Okamura

 

KEIZABURO OKAMURA 

Keizaburo Okamura has in recent years become the standard-bearer for the new generation of contemporary Nihonga artists, receiving a number of significant museum exhibitions in Japan for his monumental installations. Okamura’s work is executed on cedar panels, which are burned, shaved and planed then painted with glue and dosa, as well as ochre, sand, glass, mineral pigments and ground oyster shell. Much of his image-making results from incision into this preparation and into the panel surface itself. His work explores innovative techniques previously unthinkable in the field of Nihonga.

Okamura’s subjects range from Ryu, Hakutaku and Karura (Japanese mythological creatures) to birds, rabbits and elephants. However, even when drawing the more common animals, his approach tends toward the totemic and animistic. Although his works are devoid of the human figure, Okamura finds inspiration in the intrinsic connection of humanity and nature. and devotes his efforts to creating works that evoke vernacular traditions and customs. Thus, there is timelessness to his work— an impression that suggests both primitive art and spirituality.
 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

• 2010  Dillon Gallery, Keizaburo Okamura, New York City
• 2009  Gallery Kobayashi, Tokyo
  The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokimichi Exhibition, Tokyo
  Gallery X, META Exhibition, Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo
• 2007 Okamura Keizaburo Solo Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura
• 2006 Sato Museum of Art World of Keizaburo Okamura - Illustration for Amano Tamatori 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• 2009 Tokimichi Exhibition, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo – Kushiro Art Museum, Hokkaido, - Kushiro City Museum of Art, Hokkaido and in other parts of Japan
  META Exhibition, Gallery X in Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, Takasaki Tower Museum of Art, Gunma, Tohoku University of Art & Design, Yamagata
  Close Your Eyes…Exhibition; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki
• 2008 Tokimichi Exhibition, Akashi City Cultural Museum and other places
  Okazaki Mindscape Museum, Aichi
  The 4th Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Nikkei Nihonga Art Prize Exhibition, Tokyo
• 2007 Transforming Japanese-Style Painting; from YOKOYAMA Misao and KAYAMA Matazo to SENJU Hiroshi, The Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum, et al., Niigata
  First Public Showing of Sambi Shosha Ueda Collection – Mr. and Mrs. Ueda’s Lovely Contemporary Art – “To Transcend is Human”, Nerima Art Museum
  Takasaki Tower Museum of Art, Gunma
  META II 2007 Exhibition, Kanagawa Kenmin Hall, Kanagawa
• 2006 Modern Paradise, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo