Yozo Ukita: Self-Portrait

After World War II, Yozo Ukita was involved in editing "Kirin," a magazine created in Osaka in which children's poems and drawings were published. The avant-garde artist Jiro Yoshihara, who was strongly interested in children's art at the time, recommended Ukita, who was selecting most cover pictures for "Kirin," to become an artist. When Yoshihara founded the Gutai Art Association, Ukita joined the group, and under the mentorship of Yoshihara, he started to create his first artworks. Nearly 10 years later, he resigned from "Kirin" and left "Gutai" to run his own plastic packaging factory. For the artist, it marked the beginning of 20-year hiatus from the art world. 

 

Two decades later, near the age of 60, when he went on a residency in Germany, Ukita resumed his artistic activity more intensely than before. This exhibition focuses on his works since the resumption of his production.

 

During his stay in Germany, Ukita was exposed to local art students with whom he shared a training camp, who were creating works of art based on an attitude of putting their feelings into even the smallest details of their daily lives. Even Ukita, who had to discipline himself to go to work from early in the morning and resume his artwork someday, said that this was the biggest reform in his life.

 

This is consistent with what Ukita once wrote in "Kirin" Vol. 7, No. 1 as follows:

“It is not possible to work by taking out one's favorite feelings only when painting. You have to pay attention to the little things in your daily life and develop your ability to put things in perspective.”

 

Placing production and life on the same line without separating them, Ukita consistently sharpened his senses and pushed himself to confront everyday life, trying to overcome the anxiety of his own existence. His work evolved into a style that included vivid color contrasts, the texture of jute sacks and angular compositions, and towards the end of his life, he became even more conscious about materials (“things”) and breaking through painterly elements.

 

Ukita's desire to create art increased in his later years after a long hiatus, and we hope that many people will see the "things" that are proof of his existence, which he spent his life pursuing. When experiencing Ukita’s works, it should be beyond a simple information, at a time when information is being consumed at such a rapid pace; it should also take in the background of the work and the artist’s way of life.

 

In collaboration with (titles omitted): LADS GALLERY, Purejob Association "Yozo Ukita and the 'Kirin' Reference Room", Yui Ozaki, Keiko Sarusawa, Kumiko Nakashima, Toshiko Morikawa