TAB Event - "Taro Okamoto: 1954−1970 - The Contemporary Arts Institute through Expo 70" Exhibition

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At Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki
Media: Painting, Sculpture

In May 1954, Taro Okamoto settled into his studio (now the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum) located in Takagi-cho of Aoyama, Tokyo. Designed by Junzo Sakakura architects & engineers and constructed utilizing concrete blocks, this modernized studio was named by Okamoto himself as the Contemporary Art Institute to serve not only as his personal atelier/home, but also as a base for Okamoto to promote art movements.

During the time he spent at the studio, Okamoto contemplated engaging with leading architects and interior designers, including Kenzo Tange and Munesato (Sori) Yanagi with the aim of pushing forward the avant-garde art movement that he started not long after the end of the Second World War and influencing a wider range of people. Okamoto was devoted to seeking out and developing new ways of promoting art movement during this period, particularly through working with the artists around him. He was active as a member of the International Design Committee (now the Japan Design Committee), and was the pioneer of the Good Design Movement in Japan. In addition, as a founder, advocate and leader of the Art Club, which aimed to promote collaboration among artists, Okamoto contributed to the spread of the Art Informel movement by bringing the exhibition "Today’s Art of the World" to fruition.

In 1961, as he resigned from the Nika Association, Okamoto took the opportunity to begin working independently and communicate directly with the public through his artistic activities. Nonetheless, Okamoto’s keen interaction with other artists during the 1950s was thought to have a direct influence and is regarded as an important basis for his development and growth as an artist, eventually leading him to create the symbolic centerpiece of the 1970 Japan World Exposition "Tower of the Sun".

The aim of this exhibition is to unravel the unknown sides of Taro Okamoto, including his work in the field of design, as well as to help visitors gain a fuller appreciation of the dramatic development of Okamoto’s artistic career between 1954 and 1970 in relation to the people he came into contact with during this period.

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