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Masatoyo Kishi

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Masatoyo Kishi (1924 - 2017) was active/lived in California / Japan.  Masatoyo Kishi is known for Abstract expressionist painting, geometric steel sculpture.

Following is an exhibition review by Debra Belt, published in the Sacramento News, April 20, 2000.

"The science of sculpture.  Masatoyo Kishi at b sakata garo"

Within minutes, a deep clear bell confirms this is an exceptional show. The sound leads to a slender sculpture, a steel study of composition, meter and balance. Water circulates through the base of Sculptural Bell and fills a delicately balanced trough. At the moment the trough is brimming with water, it then tips backward and flips a small mallet that hits the main steel pipe in a resonant note of creative precision.

The Sculptural Bell is a testimony to Masatoyo Kishi's education in physics and mathematics. "As a Japanese artist in the 1905s in Tokyo, I didn't go to art school," says Kishi. "Japanese artists studied literature, economics, science; then you explored art." After his education at Tokyo University of Science, Kishi turned to abstract expressionist painting.  In   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 9814 characters.]  Artist bio

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Facts about Masatoyo Kishi

   Masatoyo Kishi  Born:  1924 - Sakai, Japan
Died:   2017 - Grass Valley, California
Known for:  Abstract expressionist painting, geometric steel sculpture
Name variants:  Masatoyo Kishu

Biography from the Archives of askART

Following is an exhibition review by Debra Belt, published in the Sacramento News, April 20, 2000.

"The science of sculpture.  Masatoyo Kishi at b sakata garo"

Within minutes, a deep clear bell confirms this is an exceptional show. The sound leads to a slender sculpture, a steel study of composition, meter and balance. Water circulates through the base of Sculptural Bell and fills a delicately balanced trough. At the moment the trough is brimming with water, it then tips backward and flips a small mallet that hits the main steel pipe in a resonant note of creative precision.

The Sculptural Bell is a testimony to Masatoyo Kishi's education in physics and mathematics. "As a Japanese artist in the 1905s in Tokyo, I didn't go to art school," says Kishi. "Japanese artists studied literature, economics, science; then you explored art." After his education at Tokyo University of Science, Kishi turned to abstract expressionist painting.  In the 1970s, he moved to sculpture.

Kishi's sculptures, created from steel, rusted pipe and fiberglass, are strikingly thoughtful equations of balance and intrinsic geometry. The works explore shape, planes and refraction, each presenting its own problem, each accurately answered with form, subtle color and contrasting texture.

The most intriguing works, A-2-00 Stairs Series and K-1-99 Stairs Series suspend fragile pieces of fiberglass in steel landscapes. The fiber-glass is paper-thin and resembles pieces of bone, an ingenious complement to the steel. Kishi worked with fiberglass before turning to metal for his sculpture. In these works, he says, the fiberglass suggests the human form, and the delicate pieces impart human frailty amid their metal trappings. These two works and many of of his other works include surreal metal stairs rising out of the sculptures. Kishi notes that many of his sculptures were created from memories of the World War II destruction of Tokyo.

"Many of the forms are metaphors for destruction, but the stairs are a symbol of hope rising out the ruins," he says.

Kishi's larger works take on ambitious combinations that make the asymmetrical symmetrical by bringing unlikely elements into unison. K-1-97 Framed #3 pits rusting pipe with smooth ebony plane, vivid triangular pieces and a graceful steel line.

Kihi's colors are reminiscent of an oxidizing junkyard, but he doesn't miss an opportunity to create interesting texture by contract rusting pipe with polished and painted surfaces.

Kishi's elemental colors are also present in his paintings, but on canvas he interjects cool touches of pale blue and green. He says he works with the canvas on the floor using a wooden stick to drop paint onto the surface.

"The paint brush is a difficult extension for me," Kishi explains. "What develops from this method is an orderly conversation between me and the canvas. I respond to each change taking place."

The most successful of his paintings transfers the dept and solidity of his sculpture onto canvas. The paintings appear to progress. Some, such as 64-C-6, have Kishi's trademark elements, but seem to be exploratory.  Others, such as Opus No. 62-901. are loose, bright and purely musical.  The bold and assured paintings, PA-5-93 White Circle and AP-3-93 Red Arcg, translate his wisdom of structure.  Kishi works with balancing elements, and interjecting his signature hint of hot color produces a boiling point. Despite such thought-provoking touches and juxtapositions, however, Kishi says he has no particular ideas about his work.

"I display the art works, that's it. It's up to viewers to bring their ideas."

Source:
http://www.bsakatagaro.com/reviews/masatoyokishi.html


Biography from Hackett | Mill

Masatoyo Kishi
Born: 1924 Sakai, Japan

Education
1953
BS Physics and Mathematics from Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, Japan

Selected Solo Exhibitions
1984
Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA

1972
John Bolles Collection, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

1967
Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (also '65, '63)

1965
Bolles Gallery, San Francisco, CA (also '63, "65)
Annual Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

1964
Fifth Winter Invitational, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA

1961
Thibaut Gallery, New York, NY

1959
Yamada Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

Selected Group Exhibitions
1997
Asian Traditions Modern Expressions: Asian American Artists and Abstraction 1945-70, Jane Voorhees
Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, NJ (traveling exhibition)

1973
Japanese Artists in America, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan

1961
International Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA

1960
City Art Museum, Kyoto, Japan
Ginza Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Collections
Barlow Building, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Stanford University Museum of Art and T. W Stanford Art Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
State University College at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY
Guilford College, Greensboro, NC

Selected Bibliography
1997
Wechsler, Jeffrey, ed., Asian Traditions: Modern Expressions, Harry N. Abrams and Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New York and Rutgers, NY and NJ.

1985
Albright, Thomas, Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1960, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

1974
Frankenstein, Alfred, A 'Classic' Retrospective, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA, May 23.

1973
44 Japanese Artists in America, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan.

1966
Monte, James, San Francisco, Artforum, San Francisco, CA, June.

1965
Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture: Circles, Men & Others, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL.

1963
Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture: Subject, Object & Content , University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL.

Teaching
1965-66
Holy Names College, Oakland, CA

1964-74
Dominican College, San Rafael, CA


Biography from Hood Museum of Art

Abstract sculptor and painter Masatoyo Kishi, best known for mixing elements of traditional Japanese culture with Western abstraction, died in Grass Valley, California, at the age of ninety-three. Hackett Mill, the San Francisco–based art gallery that represents him, confirmed his passing.

Born in Sakai, Japan, in 1924, Kishi studied physics and mathematics at the Tokyo University of Science. “As a Japanese artist in the 1950s in Tokyo, I didn’t go to art school,” Kishi said. “Japanese artists studied literature, economics, science; then you explored art.” After graduating, he pursued a short career as a mathematics teacher before he began exhibiting with Tekkei Kai, a group of abstract painters associated with the Kyoto Museum of Art.

From the late 1950s to the 1960s, he created his Opus paintings, which feature softly dripped pigments and sweeping brushwork. Using large brushes, Kishi painted his works by laying canvases horizontally and using wooden sticks to drip paint onto them, which he said created “an orderly conversation between me and the canvas.” The works reflect the artist’s interests in Zen Buddhism, Taoism, seventeenth-century Japanese architecture, and Western classical music. In 1960, Kishi moved from Japan to San Francisco, where he lived until 1988. Over the course of nearly thirty years there, he transitioned from primarily painting to sculpting. He taught at Holy Names College in Oakland and the Dominican College in San Rafael.

“Kishi’s paintings inspire a sense of chaos and awe. To look at a Kishi painting is to accept a challenge of sorts, one where you find yourself completely immersed in the rhythm of the paint as you try to trace the artist's hand not to learn how or why he painted in this way but rather to gain access to the lyrical complexity that resulted from it,” Jessica Phillips, director of Hackett Mill, said.

Kishi’s paintings were frequently exhibited in the Bay Area and at national and international institutions, including the Palace of the Legion of Honor, de Young Museum, San Francisco Museum of Art, Richmond Art Center, Oakland Museum of California, Carnegie Institute, University of Illinois, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto. Hackett Mill has represented Kishi since 2007.

Submitted by Deborah T. Haynes, Data Documentation Manager and Cataloguer, Hood Museum of Art

Source:
"Masatoyo Kishi," ARTFORUM, Aug. 25, 2017


Biography from Nancy Moure - special bio account

Is he Masatoyo Kishi (b. 1924) -- “Masatoyo Kishi's formal education was in physics and mathematics. ‘As a Japanese artist in the 1950s in Tokyo, I didn't go to art school,’ says Kishi. ‘Japanese artists studied literature, economics, science; then you explored art.’

After his education at Tokyo University of Science, Kishi turned to abstract expressionist painting. In the 1970s, he moved to sculpture.” from Peyton Wright Gallery, Santa Fe, N. M.,: “Hackett Mill presents a solo exhibition of Masatoyo Kishi’s paintings. Kishi, now 89 years of age, is one of the few Japanese American artists of his generation who is still an active painter.

In 1960 Kishi moved from Japan to the Bay Area. He showed with the Bolles Gallery in San Francisco, and taught at the Holy Names College in Oakland and Dominican College in San Rafael.” Source per www.asiancontemporarysf.org

Source: Website of Asian Contemporary San Francisco.

Source: Nancy Dustin Moure, "Publications in California Art No. 11 , Index to California Art Exhibited at the Laguna Beach Art Association, 1918-1972; 2015 edition"


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