Sat. Feb 15, 2025 – Sat. Mar 15, 2025

Gallery Yamaki Fine Art is pleased to present the exhibition of Michio Fukuoka 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).

A Gift From Claes Oldenburg, c.1968, 40.7×32 cm, drawing

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.

Cutting Grass, 1976, 30x26xh67 cm, FRP, wood 

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.

Nothing to do: July (KUSAMA), 1999, 90.5×92 cm, FRP, wood