Higher Art

Kazumi Amano

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Biography | Solo Exhibitions | Private & Public Collections

Biography

Mr Amano was born in 1927 in Takaoka City, Japan. He graduated from Takaoka High School of Industrial Art in 1945. In 1950 Amano studied under Shiko Murakata, a renowned master of Graphic Arts in Japan and abroad. After 1968 Amano made several visits to the United States, for exhibitions and as a teacher at Augustana College, Illinois and Marycrest College, Iowa. Finally in 1971 Amano moved to New York City where his work flourished for some 30 years. Amano passed away in 2001.

Artist Statement
Kazumi Amano
New York, NY

My work begins with the contemplation of Natural Evolution. Even apparently “ugly” processes such as the “survival of the fittest” operate within the framework of a Universal Law and express Beauty and Nature. It seems to me that the chaotic processes of Nature are controlled by an essential primeval power.

My intention is to produce work that is an aspect of (and not simply a reproduction of) Natural Evolution and it’s process of constant metamorphosis. This process repeats itself eternally even while appearing to be in chaos. As I begin working, all of the things involved, from the materials and tools I use to my mental and physical effort, my “media”, start of equal. But as the work proceeds, the inherent value and “instincts” of each thing begin to asset themselves and come into a dynamic opposition and disorder, etc. leads to a chaotic situation. However, thisa situation, while neither a reproduction nor representation of Nature, is itself one aspect of the functioning of Natural Evolution.

For me, Art is a continuing process, and I want the artwork to be a medium through which others are induced or tempted to experience that process.

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Solo Exhibitions

1962 Gallery Fugetsudo, Tokyo
1966 Bijutsu Shippan-Sha Lobby, Tokyo
1967 Gallery Soen, Tokyo
1969, 1971,1973,1977,1981,1983,1994
          Gallery of Graphic Arts, New York
1968, 1969, 1975
          Gallery Aoki, Tokyo
1970 American Cultural Center, Tokyo
1972 Gallery Art Asian, Cambridge
1972 Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Davenport IA
1973, 1975
          Gallery Print Art Center, Tokyo
1979  Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro
1979 New England Center for Contemporary Art, Brooklyn
1997  Fox & Fowle Architects, New York

(Complete list not available at this time.)

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Selected Private and Public Collections

Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Arts Council of Great Britain, London
Cincinnati Art Museum
New York: Citibank
Illinois: John Deere
New York: EMI Music Publishers
Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art
New York: Exxon Corporation
Geneva: Musée d’Art et d’Histoire
New York: IBM
New York: Irving Trust Company
New York: Marine Midland Bank
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Stockholm: National Museum
New York Public Library
Poland: Poznan National Museum
New York: RCA Records
New York: Rockfeller University
Seattle Art Museum
New York: Shearson-American Express
New York: Smith-Barney
Japan: Toyama Modern Art Museum
New York: Union Bank of Switzerland
Zagreb: Zagreb Museum

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