Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Artist of the day, September 4: Shinkichi Tajiri, an American sculptor, painter, photographer and cinematographer (#789)

Shinkichi Tajiri (1923 – 2009) was born in Los Angeles, as a son of Japanese parents. He was a sculptor, first and foremost, but he was also involved with photography and made a number of award-winning films, videos, stereo and panoramic photos. His life and artworks include Asian, American and European elements.

After the war he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1947-1948 and then left for Paris, where he first studied with the sculptor Zadkine and later with the painter Léger. Tajiri was one of the first artists who created junk sculptures. With this, he earned the admiration of the Dutch CoBrA artists who resided in Paris. They invited him to take part in the first and second International Exhibition of Experimental Art (CoBrA), respectively in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 1949 and Museé des Beaux Arts, Liège 1951. In 1956, Tajiri took up residence in Amsterdam and in 1962 he moved, together with his wife Ferdi and their two daughters.

In 1969 Tajiri was appointed professor at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin on request by its art students, where he taught until 1989. During this period he started to experiment with an array of different media including his own off-set printing press (X-Press), nearly forgotten photography methods, such as the Daguerreotypes and his computer drawings on the Commodore Amiga.

After Tajiri passed away the renewed Rijksmuseum (2013), Amsterdam acquired the sculpture Made in USA as well as Ferdi’s Wombtomb, which are on permanent display in the 20th-century collection of the museum.

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Shinkichi Tajiri

Shinkichi Tajiri at work

1949, Guerrier

1950, Angel II

1950, warrior (Plaster)

1953, Knight

1955, Lock

1955, Overhand Knot

1955, Victory

1956, Végétation agressive

1960, Mountain

1961, Fortress

1961, Head

1961, Seed

1961, warrior

1962,  Obiit

1963, Orbit

1963, Seed

1964, Blaubekin

1964, Made in the USA

1964, Warrior

1965, Made in USA

1965, Warrior (Made in USA Series)

1965, White Knight watcher

1966, Machine no. 2

1966, Machine no. 5

1967, Machine No 7

1968, 8x4

1968, Granny’s Knot

1969, Knot

1972, astronaut

1972, Tower of Babel

1974, Square knot

1975, Meeting point

1976, The Knot

1981, beeldhouwer Statue

1991, Connection

1991, Royal Knot

1995, Ronin

1996, Ronin

1997, Ronin

2004, Sentinel no.1

2006, Sentinel no. 2

2007, Koan Knot

2008, Ronin

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