Kimiko Ohara
Born: Nishinomiya, 1934. Died: 2003
Period of Membership in GUTAI : 1956-1972
Ohara initially studied Japanese-style painting, before shifting her focus to abstract painting. In 1954, she exhibited at the 7th Ashiya City Exhibition, where she met Jiro Yoshihara. Her first exhibition with the Gutai Art Association was the 1956 Gutai Outdoor Art Exhibition, where she presented three-dimensional works which moved with the power of the wind. Later, she created tableaus with an emphasis on materiality by using clear colors, mainly red and yellow, to build up the paint thickly and swiftly spread this over the canvas with a squeegee. Developing from a style which filled the painting with bright tones and voluminous paint, she went on to earn praise from Jiro Yoshihara for the dark blue and green-based tableaus which she presented at the 1969 Gutai Art Small Works Exhibition. In these works, blank spaces which had not been seen up until then make an appearance, and audiences can catch a glimpse of her honed awareness of composition.
