index / exhibitions / artists / shopping / map / information


 OKAZAKI Kazuo Biography

JAPANESE

2009
Exhibition

1930  Born in Houkancho, Okayama.

1950  Graduates from Okayama Sonzan Senior High School. Enters Waseda University next year.

    While a student, obtains copies of Shi to Shiron(Poetry and Poetics) magazine and becomes familiar with modern poetry.

    Reads Kindai Geijutsu (Modern Art) Takiguchi Shuzo and becomes interested in DADA and Surrealism.

1954  Makes taped music with a friend in Okayama under influence of Musique concrete.

1955  Advances to graduate school at Waseda University and majors in art history.

1956  Begins making steel sculpture.

1957  Quits graduate school. Devotes himself to steel sculpture in Okayama.

1958  Exhibits Ikimono (Living thing) at the10th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, where he meets the organizer Kaido Hideo.

    Michel Tapie refers to the work in a review.

1959  Exhibits Heimen Chokoku ( Two Dimensional Sculpture) at the 11th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, which was mentioned by Takiguchi Shuzo in a review.

1963  Begins working with the concept of "Gyobutsu Hoi"(Object Supplement), a coined term from the Japanese word for object (mono/gyobutsu) and supplement (Hoi).

1964  Makes Green Bulb. on which the words "objet supplement" are inscribed. It is the first work representing the concept of "Gyobutsu Hoi".

1965  Becomes close friend with Takiguchi Shuzo. Invites Takiguchi to his studio in Futako-Tamagawa, Tokyo to show him his works.

    Makes a cast of Takiguchi's forefinger on the occasion and gives Wall Clock to Takiguchi as a souvenir of the visit. The work was chosen by Takiguchi.

1966  Holds first solo exhibition at Tokyo Gallery and shows many three dimensional objects.

1967  Founds "OKAZAKI GIVEAWAYS" with Suzuki Wataru and Okazaki Tamako, aiming to distribute mass produced are objects as "giveaways" in English.

    The project ended in 1969.

1968  Makes Takiguchi Shuzo-Arrow Finger (From Who's who) from the cast of Takiguchi's forefinger. This is the first piece in the "Who's Who"series.

    With the technical cooperation of Suzuki Wataru, makes two versions of Giveaway Pack, which contains multiples in a paperboard box.

    Works with Kano Mitsuo to make embossed print, Summer Critic, by Jasper Johns, which is included in Takiguchi Shuzo's Marcel Duchamp Goroku (Marcel Duchamp Analects),

    published by Tokyo Rrose Selavy.

1969  Opens "Supplement Gallery" in April on the basement floor of the Ginza Toshiba Building, Tokyo, displaying and selling multiples such as Wink Ring and Glasses, inflatable toys

    such as Sabaru Jack and Hello Flower, which were coproduced with toy company Takara. The gallery shop closed in September 1973.

    Publishes Room Accessory As example of handcraft objects, he shows photographs and plans with instruction, and the patenting of art object.

1974  Contributes Finger Smile to "Epaves Specimen Box" a collaborative work by Okazaki Kazuo, Takawa Shusaku, Kano Mitsuo, Takiguchi Shuzo, Akasegawa Genpei,

    Arakawa Shusaku, Kano Mitsuo, Takemitsu Toru, Tada Minami, Nakanishi Natsuyuki and Nonaka Yuri ( publisher : Editions Epaves).

1975  Works on the monthly magazine Gendai Shiso ( Contemporary thoughts)". Did cover design and frontispiece drawing and wrote a artist's comment at the end in 13 issues

    from January to December, including special editions.

1977  Completes Oculist Witnesses, a knockdown multiple piece in homage to Marcel Duchamp in January. For which, Okazaki and Takiguchi have collaborated for years.

    Tono Yoshiki brought it to Mrs.Duchamp in Paris on the occasion of the exhibition "Marcel Duchamp" (Center Pompidou, Paris)

    Visits Philadelphia Museum of Art with Oculist Witnesses in July. Takiguchi Shuzo gives him the LIBERTY PASSPORT: for Kazuo Okazaki.

    Publishes KAZUO OKAZAKI Selected Works 1962-1976. Takiguchi cooperates in editing and contributes a poem "His smile, and."

    Begins working intensively on the HISASHI series, the prototype of which appeared in 1975.

1978  Opens " OKAZAKI KAZUO'S SUPPLEMENT GALLERY" in Jingumae, Tokyo. Gives a three consecutive solo exhibitions.

1989  Gives an exhibition of HISASHI at Shigeru Yokota Gallery.

1994  Makes a permanent installation, HISASHI- that which supplements, for the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art (architect: Isozaki Arata) in Okayama.

    The gallery entitld Room 'Moon'-Garden of Supplement / Given: HISASHI and bench for rest, consists of three HISASHI and tow benches.

    Made with the help of sculptor Izumi Masatoshi. This work unfolds the concept of "Garden of Supplements," in which HISASHI is considered to be an element of connection between heaven and earth.

1995  Makes an environmental installation, Memory of the Black Rain, a cenotaph for the victims of the atom bomb.

    It combined Okazaki's experience of war with the image of black rain, which hell after the bombing of Hiroshima.

1997  A retrospective is hold at the Kurashiki City Art Museum. Begins photographic HISASHI series. The photographs, which were taken by Okazaki, were printed in both negative and positive.

2001  Gives lecture,"Takiguchi Shuzo and Shop of Objects," at the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama on 28 January.

    Holds a solo exhibition "OKAZAKI KAZUO / HISASHI: The Border of Black and Image" at the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art. shows HISASHI and HISASHI photographs.

2003  Gives a lecture, "Takiguchi Shuzo and the World of Objects, Commemorating the Centennial of Takiguchi Shuzo's Birth," at Keio University.

2010  Holds a solo exhibition "OKAZAKI KAZUO Garden of Supplements" at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura.

 

[ Solo exhibitions]

1966  Okazaki Kazuo, Tokyo Gallery.

1978  HISASHI, Okazaki Kazuo's Supplement Gallery, Tokyo.

1979  HINOMARU / GARASU , Okazaki Kazuo's Supplement Gallery, Tokyo.

1989  HISASHI, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

1990  Mono Hoi, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

1991  Okazaki Kazuo, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    Mono Hoi Gallery Mukai, Tokyo.

1992   Okazaki Kazuo, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

1993  HISASHI-that which supplements, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    Mono Hoi series, Hiro Chikashige Gallery, Okayama.

1994  hisashi. On the organic memory, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

1995  pax. Okazaki Kazuo. Memory of the Black Rain, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    [series of solo exhibitions by Armando, Abraham David Christian, Okazaki Kazuo, Tomoharu Murakami and Moshe Kupferman]

1996  Garden of Supplement II, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

1997  Kazuo Okazaki, Kurashiki City Art Museum, Okayama.

    HISASHI Hiro, Chikashige Gallery.

    Okazaki Kazuo, Tenmaya, Okayama.

1998  hisashi - dimensional reflecions, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    HISASHI Hiro, Chikashige Gallery.

    HISASHI and Gyobutsu Hoi, Koji Ogura Gallery, Nagoya.

    WHO'S WHO, HISASHI Hiro, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

1999  Okazaki Kazuo Galerie Ando, Tokyo.

    Garden of Supplement. Heavenward, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    Garden of Supplement. Heavenward, Hiro Chikashige Gallery.

2000  Memories of Things , Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    MULTIPLE PROJECT. KAZUO OKAZAKI Multiples, Tokyo Publishing House at , Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

2001  HISASHI 2001, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    Gift, Kibi Kouken Art House, Okayama.

    HISASHI : The Border ob Black and Image, Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art, Okayama.

2002  Okazaki Kazuo Galerie Ando, Tokyo.

    Curved Rain, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

2003  No.1, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    Okazaki Kazuo Galerie Ando, Tokyo.

2004  Mirror as Supplement, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

2005  Garden of Supplement : P. Mondrian's Landscape, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    Okazaki Kazuo Galerie Ando, Tokyo.

2006  Garden of Supplement : HISASHI and Water and, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    Kazuo Okazaki, Gallery Fleur, Kyoto Seika University,Kyoto.

2007  Okazaki Kazuo Galerie Ando, Tokyo.

    Okazaki Kazuo, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

2008  Three perceptional images emerged in the garden of supplements when a 'blacket Fungus' is given, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

2009  Apples - To William Tell, Shigeru Yokota Gallery, Tokyo.

    Memory of the Black Rain - Another Hiroshima Dome, Galerie Ando, Tokyo.

2010  Photography as Supplements, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Kanagawa.

 

[Group Exhibitions]

1958  10th Yomiuri Independent, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo.

1959   11th Yomiuri Independent, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo.

1961  13th Yomiuri Independent, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo.

1963  15th Yomiuri Independent, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo.

1967  9th Tokyo Biennale, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo.

    Small and Small, Matsuya Department Store Ginza, Tokyo.

    Trends in contemporary Japanese art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.

    Art in Wonderland, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo.

1968  Trick and Vision - Stolen Eyes, Tokyo Gallery and Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo.

    Contemporary Art from Japan Exhibition, Tokyo Gallery and Minami Gallery, Tokyo.

    Fluorescent Chrysanthemum : Contemporary Art from japan, ICA,london.

    Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada.

    9th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo.

1970  Human Documents, Tokyo Gallery.

1971  Multiples : The First Decade, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

1973  International Exhibition of Cups, Japan Sea Expo, Kanagawa.

1975  Books and Objects, Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo.

1980  Thinking playing cup, Hokkaido Museum Art, Sapporo.

1982  7th British International Print Biennale, Cartwright Hall Bradford, England.

    1st Contemporary Art Festival - Shuzo Takiguchi and Postwar Art, The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama.

1984  8th British International Print Biennale, Cartwright Hall Bradford, England.

1985  World Humorous Cups Exhibition, Daimaru Museum, Umeda, Osaka

    Odakyu Department Store, Shinjuku, Tokyo.

1989  On Kawara, Again and Against : 23 date paintings and 24 prominent works of Japanese contemporary art 1966-1989, ICA, Nagoya.

1990  Armando, Christian, McLaughlin, Murakami, Shigeru Yokota gallery.

1992  Three or More - Multiplied art from Duchamp to the resent, Spiral Garden, Tokyo.

1993  Tomoharu Murakami and Kzuo Okazaki, James Corcoran Gallery, California.

1994  Small sculptures, Fukuyama Museum of Hiroshima.

    Japanese art after 1945 : scream against the sky, Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa.

    When the body as object, Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo.

    The Pop Image : Prints and Multiples, Marlborough Graphics, New York.

1995  Walk - in sculpture, Shigeru Yokota Gallery.

    After Hiroshima : Message from Contemporary Art. Special exhibition for the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima A - bombing, Hiroshima City Museum of contemporary Art.

1996  Art of postwar Avant - Garden in 1960, Kurashiki City Art Museum Okayama.

1998  To and From Shuzo Takiguchi, The National Museum Art, Osaka.

    Homage to Okada Takahiko : Memory of Mr. Okada, Mudo Gallery, Tokyo.

    Sozan Family Art, Okayama Perpetual Culture Center, Okayama.

    Yumematsuri '99, Mudo Gallery.

2000  Vacant lot, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi.

2001  Shinji Ogawa : in Collaboration with Early Works of Kazuo Okazaki, Kohji Ogura Gallery, Nagoya.

    Shuzo Takiguchi. drifting object on dream, The Museum of Art at Toyama Prefectural Hall, Toyama.

     Shuzo Takiguchi's Eye. Postwar Artists, Nizayama Forest Art Museum, Toyama

    Shuzo Takiguchi : Plastic Experiments, The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama.

    Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo.

    Triennale Kleinplastik Fellbach, Alte - Kelter, Fellbach, Germany.

2002  Lost World, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.

    Between Monnalisa and Mammon Hiratsuka City Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa.

2003  Fro faculty & collection, Gallery Fleur, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto.

    Magnetic Field of the Collaboration. Around Duchamp and Man Ray, Museum Haus Kasuya, Kanagawa.

2004  Okazaki & Murakami, Galerie Ando.

    Creation counterattack Kanagawa Prefectural Hall Gallery, Kanagawa.

    Mirrorical Returns : Marcel Duchamp and the 20th Century Art, National Museum of Art, Osaka.

    Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa.

2005  Drifting objects of dreams : the collection of Shuzo Takiguchi, Setagaya Art Museum , Tokyo.

    The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama.

    Age of "Tokyo Metropolitan Art Gallery" 1926 - 1970, Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

2006  Sealed Star, Gallery Tsubaki, Tokyo.

    Secret base, Toyama Municipal Museum of Art.

    Stone, Paper, Scissors : Okazak Kazuo and Hasegawa Setsuko, Gallery K; Gallery Shiori, Okayama.

    Homage to Tono Yoshiaki : Water flows always prurally, Gallery TOM, Tokyo.

    New Acquisitions, Gallery Fleur, Kyoto Seika University.

2007  Requiem, Peace, Man, Gallery Fleur, Kyoto Seika University.

2009  Shape of Water, The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki.

    The Present of Art, Okayama.

    Tenjinyama Cultural Plaza, Okayama.

    Nagi museum of Contemporary Art Okayama.

    Artists, Gallery Fleur, Kyoto Seika University.

 

[Public Collection]

     Kyoto Seika University.

    Kurashiki City Museum of Art.

    National Museum of Art, Osaka.

    Takamatsu City Museum of Art.

    The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

    Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

     The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama.

    Toyama Municipal Museum of Art.

    Nagi Museum of Contemporary.

    Church of Perfect Liberty.

    Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art.