‘Carp streamers…they’re great. A giant fish swimming through the sky. What great imagination. They are not the creation of a single artist. They represent an image that emerged quite naturally and is shared by the ordinary people. I want to spread it around the world.’

 

With this thought in mind, Taro Okamoto set about making his own carp streamer. Large googly eyes, scales applied in primary colors and a lively, dynamic form. It is typical of Taro’s work—a carp streamer that looks as if it is alive.

‘This is what a carp streamer should look like, they have been this way since ancient times.’ However, despite everybody sharing the same image and being quite satisfied with them, Taro thought differently. ‘Why not be less restrained? Why not make a unique carp streamer, like drawing a self-portrait, then send it up into the sky?’ This was the way he thought.

The fact is that Taro created numerous artworks designed for people to use in their daily lives—tables, chairs, carpets, ties, scarfs, cotton and silk kimonos, playing cards, skis, bags, cups and many others. The range of his artistic expression extended to every genre.

Having said this, Taro believed that ‘Art is no different to a stone lying by the side of the road or an empty ink bottle,’ and he probably did not consider his own products to be ‘art’.

 

This exhibition will introduce a variety of works, together with esquisses of his original ideas and other materials, to present an overview of the works that Taro created to be brought into daily life.

Art is the act of living, it is life itself. We hope that you will come and experience Taro Okamoto’s art philosophy firsthand.

 

Akiomi Hirano

Director,

Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum