Pencil painter Susumu Kinoshita has been drawing people who have accepted their harsh fate, such as Haru Kobayashi, the last blind female “goze”, and Tetsuo Sakurai, a former poet who was diagnosed with leprosy. While painting each strand of hair and wrinkle, Kinoshita’s work seeks to touch the very existence that lies behind what can be seen.
　In recent years, he has been working on a portrait of his wife Kimiko, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. She is unable to speak, and her bodily functions are deteriorating day by day.
　Kinoshita himself has also been burdened with things beyond his control, having experienced poverty since childhood to the point that his younger brother starved to death, and his mother’s repeated wanderings. Currently, he is responsible for his wife’s care around the clock. Living amd painting seem to have become the mission of artist Susumu Kinoshita.
　We look forward to your visit.

 

Dates: May 7th(Tue.) ~ 18th(Sat.)

Hours: 10:00 ~ 17:30 (last day ~ 17:00)

Closed: 13th(Mon.)

Meet the artist: 7th(Tue.), 11th(Sat.), 14th(Tue.), 17th(Fri.), and 18th(Sat.) all from 12:00pm

Gallery Talk: 11th(Sat.), 14:00~15:00
Talk between Susumu Kinoshita and Toru Jojima (journalist, editor of “Engraving Life [The Autobiography of Susumu Kinoshita, Genius Pencil Artist]”)

 

 

Susumu KINOSHITA

Biography:
1947 Born in Toyama Prefecture.
1969 Acquaintance with the critic Shuzo Takiguchi, and 1972 acquaintance with Toru Sunouchi, etc.
1977 to 1978 Lived in Kawaguchi City.
1981 Moved to New York and met Shusaku Arakawa.
　　　After returning to Japan, began pencil drawing in earnest. Draws Haru Kobayashi, a blind female goggle-eyed artist, and Tetsuo Sakurai, a poet who is a former leprosy patient.
2013 Received the Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon. (’24)
He has been a lecturer at the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo, a visiting professor at Musashino Art University, and a full-time professor in the doctoral program at Kanazawa College of Art.

 

Public Collection:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; The National Museum of Art, Osaka; Fukuoka City Art Museum; Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Art; The Museum of Fine Arts, Toyama; Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Miyagi Museum of Art, Okinawa Prefectural Museum of Art, and many others.

 

Publications:
“From the Deep End of Life: Pencil Work” (Ribun Shuppan) 2002
Picture book “Grandma Haru’s Hands” (Fukuin Shoten) 2005
“Prayer Heart” (Kyuryudo) 2012
Picture book “Hajimete no Tabi” (Fukuin Shoten) 2013
Picture book “Panda in the Forest” (Kodansha) 2017
“Engraving Life [The Autobiography of Susumu Kinoshita, Genius Pencil Artist]” (Fujiwara Shoten) 2019

Susumu Kinoshita