Overall, the ‘Tree of Life’ Forms a Single ‘Life Form’

When he was planning the ‘Tower of the Sun’, Taro decided to build the ‘Tree of Life’ within it. A single life form composed of all living things, from amoeba to humankind. That was the ‘Tree of Life’. It formed the arteries and lymph flow that imbued the ‘Tower of the Sun’ with life.
What Taro was trying to express through the ‘Tree of Life’ was the ‘energy’ that is the source of vitality in all living beings and I think that this was a constant theme underlying all Okamoto’s art.
A Parisian street corner, a bowl of fruit, a reclining nude…these were all subjects that the western-style painters of the time liked to depict, but Taro never painted a single one. What he continued to paint was life and the grandeur of the energy that resides within it.
This exhibition will present an opportunity to see all the various examples of the ‘life’ that Taro painted. We hope that you will enjoy these ‘creatures’ that talk to us, sometimes impetuously, sometimes humorously.
In addition, during this exhibition we will also be presenting a special opportunity to see ‘KYUN-CHOME’, winner of the Taro Okamoto Award and ‘saeborg’, winner of the Toshiko Okamoto Award in the 17th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art. We hope you will enjoy both of these.