Susumu Koshimizu (b.1944, Ehime) started his career while student in 1967. Together with artists like Nobuo Sekine, he became a core member of the “Mono-ha” movement. In his works, he continues to focus on the material properties of the mediums he works with. His art works, installations and sculptures using huge stones and Japanese washi paper, "Working Table" series using iron and wood, and a series of works using water and Shigaraki ware, are made of simple and minimal materials. They make us realize its shapes, textures of materials, and depths of colors. It can be said that the unique combination of materials is something that only Koshimizu can think of, who emphasizes the relationship between the materials.

 

He has been active in domestic and international exhibitions, including the Biennale exhibitions in Venice and São Paulo. Major solo exhibitions include "The 10th Hirakushi Denchū Award Commemorative Koshimizu Graduation Sculpture Exhibition" (Takashimaya, Tokyo, 1981), "Today's Sculpture 8th " (Gifu Prefectural Museum, Ehime Prefectural Museum of Art , 1992), and Prof. Koshimizu's retirement commemorative exhibition "Gravity/Mass/Work" (Kyoto City University of Arts Geidai Gallery/University Hall, 2010).

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The important exhibitions include Mono-ha, Fondazione Mudima (Milan, Italy, 2015); Parallel Views: Italian and Japanese Art from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, The Warehouse, (Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., 2013); Century City Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis, Tate Modern (London, UK, 2001); Matter and Perception: 1970 Mono-ha and the Search for Fundamentals, The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan, from 17 Feb. to 26 March, 1995 (traveled to Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, from Aug. 19th to Sep. 24th; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, from Oct. 7 to Dec. 17 and The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama. In 1996, this exhibition traveled to Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Saint-Etienne, France. Japanese Art after 1945: Scream Against the Sky, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (traveled to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, U.S.A.) (1994); 17th Sao Paolo Biennale (Sao Paolo, Brazil, 1983); 37th & 39th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (1976 & 1980), and 7th Paris Youth Biennale (Paris, France, 1971).

 

He is currently lives in Kyoto. His latest artworks are wooden reliefs, and he has especially paid attention to his Japanese identity while working with the traditional material.

Koshimizu has always sought to question the motivations and foundations of art, and his works challenge the conventions of sculpture.

Collection

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Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art

Ube City Outside Sculpture Museum

The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art

Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Gallery

National Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo

Gifu City Museum of Art

Chiba City Museum of Art

Shiseido Company

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum

Hara Museum, Tokyo

Nagoya City Museum

Kyoto City Museum of Art

Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama

Takamatsu City Art Museum

National Museum of Art, Osaka

Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art

Toyota City Museum of Art

Tate Modern

Dallas Museum of Art