Susumu Koshimizu
Susumu Koshimizu (b.1944, Ehime) started his career while student in 1967. Together with artists like Nobuo Sekine, he became a core member of the “Mono-ha” movement. In his works, he continues to focus on the material properties of the mediums he works with. His art works, installations and sculptures using huge stones and Japanese washi paper, "Working Table" series using iron and wood, and a series of works using water and Shigaraki ware, are made of simple and minimal materials. They make us realize its shapes, textures of materials, and depths of colors. It can be said that the unique combination of materials is something that only Koshimizu can think of, who emphasizes the relationship between the materials.
He has been active in domestic and international exhibitions, including the Biennale exhibitions in Venice and São Paulo. Major solo exhibitions include "The 10th Hirakushi Denchū Award Commemorative Koshimizu Graduation Sculpture Exhibition" (Takashimaya, Tokyo, 1981), "Today's Sculpture 8th " (Gifu Prefectural Museum, Ehime Prefectural Museum of Art , 1992), and Prof. Koshimizu's retirement commemorative exhibition "Gravity/Mass/Work" (Kyoto City University of Arts Geidai Gallery/University Hall, 2010).
The important exhibitions include Mono-ha, Fondazione Mudima (Milan, Italy, 2015); Parallel Views: Italian and Japanese Art from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, The Warehouse, (Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., 2013); Century City Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis, Tate Modern (London, UK, 2001); Matter and Perception: 1970 Mono-ha and the Search for Fundamentals, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan, from 17 Feb. to 26 March, 1995 (traveled to Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, from Aug. 19th to Sep. 24th; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, from Oct. 7 to Dec. 17 and The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama. In 1996, this exhibition traveled to Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Saint-Etienne, France. Japanese Art after 1945: Scream Against the Sky, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (traveled to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, U.S.A.) (1994); 17th Sao Paolo Biennale (Sao Paolo, Brazil, 1983); 37th & 39th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (1976 & 1980), and 7th Paris Youth Biennale (Paris, France, 1971).
He is currently lives in Kyoto. His latest artworks are wooden reliefs, and he has especially paid attention to his Japanese identity while working with the traditional material.
Koshimizu has always sought to question the motivations and foundations of art, and his works challenge the conventions of sculpture.
Collection
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
Ube City Outside Sculpture Museum
The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art
Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Gallery
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Gifu City Museum of Art
Chiba City Museum of Art
Shiseido Company
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Hara Museum, Tokyo
Nagoya City Museum
Kyoto City Museum of Art
Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama
Takamatsu City Art Museum
National Museum of Art, Osaka
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
Toyota City Museum of Art
Tate Modern
Dallas Museum of Art