Yoshimi Okuda

Yoshimi Okuda was born in Kyoto-fu in 1931 and died in Hyogo Prefecture in 2011. He exhibited at the 15th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition in 1963 and participated in the formation of the Kobe artist’s community Group”i” from 1967 to 1967. In 1967, he won the Japan Cultural Forum Award at the International Young Artists Exhibition. He exhibited his work at the “Tricks and Vision” exhibition in 1968 (Muramatsu Gallery/Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo) and was also invited to the “Trends in Contemporary Art” exhibition the following year (The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto). In 1971, he won the grand prize at the 2nd Contemporary International Sculpture Exhibition (The Hakone Open Air Museum) contest. He also exhibited at “Art Now ’78′”. From the 1980s onward, his work shifted from conceptual pieces themed around existence and absence to paintings composed of monochromatic strokes. He held multiple solo exhibitions at galleries in Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. In 2009, he exhibited at “Flexible Deviations”, an exhibition by invited artists at the Kobe Biennale (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art). Following his death, a solo exhibition of his works was held at Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City in 2021.