Archive for September 6, 2014

Artist of the moment……..Kenji Kusaka

{ September 6, 2014 @ 12:07 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Kenji or Ken Kusaka is a wonderful artist renown for his spectacular use of color and abstract shapes in his work.

Kenji Kusaka was born in Tsuyama, Japan in the year 1936.

Kusaka also has painted the traditional landscape, but is renown for his abstract compositions featuring egg and cloud shapes.

The artist came to international prominence after being a participant in many print competitions from Japan to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Kusaka won important prizes and his work became internationally collected.

Kusaka is included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art located in New York City. Kusaka is also part of the collection of the Library of Congress located in Washington, D.C.

price range information: Sorry none available.

Having seen this artist’s work in person, the brightness of his colors and the unique repeating shapes are incredible. He often works in a very large scale.

D

 

Artist of the moment…………Roger Shimomura

{ September 6, 2014 @ 11:44 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Roger Shimomura has something in common with previous post Mine Okuba, Roger Shimomura also spent time as a detainee in a Japanese American interment camp. In other works Shimomura paints in a Pop art manner. Cartoony, but not as modernist as manga art.

Price range information: The artist produces silkscreen prints and also original art painted in acrylics. No price information available.

Below a link to the website of artist Roger Shimomura:

http://www.rshim.com/

Roger Shimomura was born in Seattle, Washington in the year 1939. Shimomura attended the University of Washington where he earned a B.F.A. The artist went on to earn an MFA from Syracuse University.

In this clip we view the show where I first saw Roger Shimomura’s work, at the Missoula, Montana Art Museum. Works and an interview are shown here:

The artist has worked as part an professor of art and the University of Kansas located in Lawrence, Kansas. He taught from 1969 until 2004.

I think its great that this artist and Mine Okubo have done wonderful paintings on feelings they experienced as a child. Even though its a tough and difficult subject matter, as the artist said himself, we can’t just erase the experience from our memories.

D