Sat. Feb 15, 2025 – Sat. Mar 15, 2025
Gallery Yamaki Fine Art is pleased to present the exhibition Michio Fukuoka: Nothing to Do from Saturday, February 15 to Saturday, March 15, 2025. In memory of the sculptor Michio Fukuoka, who sadly passed away in November 2023 at the age of 87, this exhibition features rare drawings and photographs from the 1960s that have not been shown in past retrospectives, as well as his most well-known landscape sculptures made of FRP (fiber reinforced plastics).
Michio Fukuoka was born in Sakai City, Osaka in 1936, studied sculpture at the Osaka Municipal Art Institute, and began his career as an artist in the late 1950s with three-dimensional works composed of plaster and sand. In the 1960s, Fukuoka unveiled Nothing to Do, a group of sculptures in the shape of sticks made from scrap wood. In the middle of the high-growth period, contrary to the excitement of the public, Fukuoka “had a strong sense of the futility of the times and buzzkill,” he said. Fukuoka noted that not wanting to do anything at this time led to the expression of “nothing to do.” Fukuoka then continued to create a unique body of works that are full of self-critique of his daily life and production, crossing over into different art forms such as drawing and photography. In the 1990s, his practice evolved into a work in which the words “nothing to do” were repeatedly carved into an FRP-covered surface with an electric carving knife. Fukuoka’s creation wavers between anticipation and disappointment, but beyond the repeated words, there is always a sense of cheerfulness, humor, and his view of life.
Looking up at the sky, plucking grass, fishing, and cherishing time to feel nature during the production process, Fukuoka depicted the beyond of “nothing to do.” We hope you will enjoy Michio Fukuoka’s world, which poses sharp questions to the contemporary society that is continuously undergoing rational updates.
【Selected solo Exhibitions】
2024'Michio FUKUOKA The Quiet Avant-Garde"', Sakai Plaza of Rikyu and Akiko, Sakai Osaka
2022'Michio FUKUOKA Exhibition "Let's Smile"', Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2018'Michio FUKUOKA Exhibition "From the Scene of Black Color"', Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2017'A Sculptor Who No Longer Sculpts’, The National Museum of Art, Osaka
2016‘Words and Characters’, Gallery Hosokawa, Osaka
2013'My Face', Gallery Hosokawa, Osaka
2008'Kizashi -Michio Fukuoka From 1970's-1980's', Shinanobashi Gallery, Osaka
2008'Michio Fukuoka: Expression of Water' The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga
2005'Laughing Warm, Angry Warm', Art Space Niji, Kyoto
2005'Rotten Balls', Shinanobashi Gallery, Osaka
2001'Michio Fukuoka Nothing to Do' INAX Gallery, Tokyo
2000'Michio Fukuoka New Works: Should We Really Not be Scared?' Itami City Museum of Art,Hyogo
1979'Retrospective exhibition Michio Fukuoka’s World' Osaka Citizen’s Gallery, Osaka
1958'Michio Fukuoka' Hakuho Gallery, Osaka
【Selected Group Exhibitions】
2024“Relief to Three Dimensional" Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Hyogo
2023Taipei Dangdai Art &Ideas', Gallery Yamaki Fine Art booth, Taiwan
2023"Concept – Object – Environment" Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Hyogo
2022ＡＣＫ（Art Collaboration Kyoto) Gallery Yamaki Fine Art booth, Kyoto
2022'Back to 1972' Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo, Japan
2022‘Rewinding the MOT Collection Collection 2nd’ , Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan
2022‘Collection 2: Our Life’, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
2019'Art Basel Hong Kong', Gallery Yamaki Fine Art booth, Hong Kong
2014'Yokohama Triennale 2014', Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama
2013‘Tamamono’, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
2012'The Link between Words and Art: An Homage to Nakahara Yusuke', Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
1997'The 20th Anniversary Exhibition: From the Permanent Collection' The National Museum of Art, Osaka
1996'1964: A Turning Point in Japanese Art' Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
1993'Kosuke Kimura and Michio Fukuoka Exhibition' Kyoto Municipal Art Museum, Kyoto
1991'Japanese Anti-Art: Now and Then' The National Museum of Art, Osaka
1991'A Current of Contemporary Art in Japan-Sculpture' The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama
1986'White and Black in Contemporary Art' The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
1985'4 Sculptors Exhibition' The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama
1981'The 16th San Paulo Biennale' San Paulo, Brazil
1980'Asian Contemporary Art Exhibition' Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka
1975'The 2nd Hakone Open-Air Museum Grand Prize Exhibition' The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa
1972'Vesuvius Grand Strategy Exhibition' Minami Gallery, Tokyo / Galleria Il Centro, Naples
1972'A Bird’s-eye View on Contemporary Art' The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
1970'Wins Kobe City Park Association Prize, the 2nd Biennale of Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition' Suma Rikyu Park, Kobe
1969'Contemporary World Art・Dialogues on East and West' The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1968'Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition' I.C.A., London
1967'Wins the Mr. K Prize, The 2nd UBE Biennale International Sculpture Competition' Ube City Outdoor Sculpture Garden Museum, Ube
1966'New Generation of Contemporary Art' The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1964'Movement of Contemporary Art' The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
1963'Absent Room' (curated by the art critic Yusuke Nakahara) Naika Gallery, Tokyo
1963'Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Minami Tada, Michio Fukuoka Joint Exhibition' Shinjuku Daiichi Gallery, Tokyo
【Artist Information】
Michio FUKUOKA
SessionSat. Feb 15, 2025 - Sat. Mar 15, 2025 Closed on Sundays and Mondays
Hours11:00－13:00 / 14:00－19:00 [-17:00 on the last day]
PlaceGallery Yamaki Fine Art
Venue3-9-5-2F Motomachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0022
ContactTEL: 078-391-1666 FAX : 078-391-1667 MAIL: info@gyfa.co.jp
AccessOne minute walk from Motomachi Station, West exit (JR/ Hanshin Line)
ChargeFree
