Kimiyo MISHIMA (1932-) is a female Japanese postwar artist who built her career in parallel with the Gutai Art Association during the 1960s and 70s in Kansai (Osaka), Japan. From the late 1950s and into the 1960s, when movements such as Art Informel, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art exerted a significant influence on Japanese artists, Mishima, responding to these movements, established her own style and invoked techniques such as collage and repetitive imagery to create signature works. Living in the Kansai area, where the Gutai movement flourished, she was deeply related with its members, however chose the Dokuritsu Art Association as her platform. She received numerous awards in their competitions, some in which she competed with Jiro Takamatsu. Recently her paintings have been reevaluated and collected in international museums, attracting further attention.
From the 1970s, she developed three-dimensional works and installations, capturing how information is turned into rubbish and discarded immediately, which includes the renowned huge rubbish bin installation exhibited permanently in Naoshima.
Throughout her career, Mishima has expressed “the fear and anxiety of drowning in information”, the notion she experienced during Japan’s postwar economic growth.
Works
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TitlePush-ASize163×132cmYear1965Mediumnewspaper, magazine, acrylic on canvas -
TitlePoem of Night ISize162.4×130.4cmYear1965Mediumnewspaper, magazine, acrylic on canvas -
TitleNewspaper 95-BSize20x30x33cmYear1995Mediumceramic -
TitleBox Postpak 17-2Size33×28×h24cmYear2017Mediumceramic -
TitleUntitledSize130 x 162 cmYear1970-71MediumNewspaper, magazine, acrylic, silk-screen on canvas -
TitleWork 17-GSizeφ56 x h90 cmYear2017Mediumprinted and painted ceramic, iron
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TitlePush-ASize163×132cmYear1965Mediumnewspaper, magazine, acrylic on canvas
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TitlePoem of Night ISize162.4×130.4cmYear1965Mediumnewspaper, magazine, acrylic on canvas
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TitleNewspaper 95-BSize20x30x33cmYear1995Mediumceramic
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TitleBox Postpak 17-2Size33×28×h24cmYear2017Mediumceramic
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TitleUntitledSize130 x 162 cmYear1970-71MediumNewspaper, magazine, acrylic, silk-screen on canvas
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TitleWork 17-GSizeφ56 x h90 cmYear2017Mediumprinted and painted ceramic, iron
CV
1932
Born in Osaka
1951
Graduated from Ohgimachi High School
1954
Becomes a member of Dokuritsu Art Association (Dokuritsu Bijutsu Kyokai)
1986
Studied in NY, supported by Rockefeller Scholarship ACC, USA.Prefecture.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
“Kimiyo Mishima” Nerima Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2023
“MISHIMA Kimiyo: Play Watch Create” Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan
2023
CADAN: CADAN: Gendai Bijutsu 2023, Gallery Yamaki Fine Art Booth, Tokyo
2022
“Kimiyo Mishima”, GINZA TSUTAYA BOOKS GINZA ATRIUM, Tokyo Japan.
2020
Mishima Kimiyo, Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2020
4th Collection Gallery Exhibition: Mishima Kimiyo, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
2018
'Works since the painting period 1970-,' Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe, Japan.
2018
Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Switzerland.
2017
"Newspaper99N/ Newspaper99-NG,” Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe, Japan.
2017
Frieze New York 2017, Gallery Yamaki Fine Art Booth, New York, USA.
2017
“Early Works,” MEM, Tokyo, Japan.
2016
Taka Ishii Gallery, New York, USA.
2015
“Kimiyo Mishima at Art Factory Jonanjima, Tokyo, Japan.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
'Here and There and Back Again, Japanese Art 1964 – 2024' Nicolas Krupp Gallery （Switzerland）
2024
'Artist ni Manabu Sekai no Mikata' Ashiya City Museum of Art and History (Hyogo)
2024
Group Exhibition: group exhibition: Relief to Three Dimensional, Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2023
"Re: Starline 1963-1970/2023 Sympathetic Relations between the Museum and Artists as Seen in the Trends in Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition", The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
2023
"11thEnku Grand Award Exhibition: Resonances-Transmission and Creation in the Spirit of Enku-", The Museum of Fine Arts Gif ,Gifu,Japan
2023
The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Australia
2022
“POLA MUSEUM OF ART 20th ANNIVERSARY: From Monet to Richter, featuring works from the new collection”, POLA MUSEUM OF ART, Kanagawa, Japan
2022
“VOID of NIPPON 77: Postwar Art History Landscape Sequence”, GYRE GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2022
Mori no Iro, Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2022
“In Commemoration of the Gold Prize of the Ceramic Society of Japan, Takuro Kuwata and Kimiyo Mishima Exhibition” Kochukyo, Tokyo, Japan
2022
GYFA Show II “Post-war Female Artists
2022
Listening to Clay, Joan B Mirviss LTD, New York
2021
Metamorphosis and Evolution, emmy art+, Tokyo
2021
Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging 16 Women Artists from around the World, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
2019
ELLE LOVES ART, Tokyo
2019
"Children and Adults : What Does This Look Like? ," Ashiya City Museum of Art & History, Hyogo, Japan
2019
"The Yamamura Collection: Gutai and the Japanese Avant-Garde 1950s–1980s," Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo, Japan
2019
'Taipei Dangdai Art &Ideas', Gallery Yamaki Fine Art booth, Taiwan
2018
Collection 2: The 1980s Zeitgeist as a Point of Departure, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
2018
“Shigeji and Kimiyo Mishima,” MEM, Tokyo, Japan.
2017
Art Basel Hong Kong 2017, MEM Booth, Hong Kong.
2017
Chronicle, Chronicle!, Creative Center Osaka, Japan.
2016
Taipei Art Fair, Sokyo Gallery Booth, Taiwan.
2014
“Identity and Originality" Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, Japan.
2014
“Currents: Japanese Contemporary Art,” Christie's Hong Kong.
2012
"The Link Between Words and Art: An Homage to Nakahara Yusuke" Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Hyogo
Awards
2022
the 11th Enku Prize
2022
the 63rd Mainichi Art Award
2021
2021 Agency for Cultural Affairs Commissioner's Commendation
2019
The 5th Ando Tadao Cultural Foundation Award, Japan
2019
Sardi per l’Arte Back to the Future Prize, Turin, Italy
2002
Received Yaizu Mayor’s prize at the show ‘Humor’, Shizuoka, Japan.
2001
The Contemporary Sculpture exhibition, Yamaguchi Prefectural Prize and The Citizen Prize, Ubeshi Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan.
1996
Sai no Kuni Chokoku Variety 1996, Grand Prize, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
1989
International Ceramics, winner of the Copper Prize, Tajimi Gymnasium, Japan.
1988
Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture Exhibition 1988, Gold Prize, Gifu Toki City Culture Plaza, Japan.
1974
International Ceramic Exhibition, winner of Gold Medal, Faenza, Ceramic Museum, Faenza, Italy.
1966
Kansai Dokuritsu Effort Prize at Kansai Dokuritsu Exhibition, Japan.
1965
Winner of the Prize at the Ninth Annual Shell Exhibition, Shirokiya Department Store, Tokyo, Japan.
1964
Kansai Dokuritsu Prize at Kansai Dokuritsu Exhibition, Japan.
1963
Dokuritsu Winner of the Grand Prix at Exhibition.
