Kimiyo Mishima

Date|March 14 – April 12, 2020
Venue|MEM map
Open hours|12:00-20:00
Closed on Mondays [Unless it is a public holiday or a compensating holiday, in which case will be closed on Tuesday.]
Tel|+81-(0)3-6459-3205

Born in 1932 in Osaka. Mishima began painting in the 1950s. As she developed her own style, Mishima gradually began using newspapers and magazines to collage on top of painting. Shigeji Mishima (1920-1985), a painter and her husband, encouraged her to explore further with different techniques. Shigeji studied under Jiro Yoshihara, the leader of Gutai Group, although he didn’t join the group himself. At the beginning of the 1970s, Mishima made a first group of ceramic sculptures of everyday items including newspaper. Minami Garo, a leading contemporary art gallery in Tokyo, hosted Mishima’s solo show in Tokyo in 1974 showing such ceramic sculptures.
Ceramic sculptures of everyday items and waste material became Mishima’s trademark, while always experimented with new techniques and materials such as volcano ash, fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) and polyester. For example, she was fascinated by making waste sculptures from Molten slag—a recycled glass-like material made by heating industrial waste to over 1300℃.

Mishima’s work is in the permanent collection of important institutions and museums around the world, including National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Everson, Museum of Arts in New York, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art in Florida, Smith College in Massachusetts, Musée Cernuschi in Paris, Musée Ariana in Geneva, The Korean Culture & Arts Foundation in Seoul, M+ in Hong Kong, and ARTER | Vebi Koç Foundation in Istanbul.