Shinro Ohtake

Shinro Ohtake (b. 1955, Tokyo, Japan, based in Uwajima, Japan) collects, edits and reassembles found images and objects to create works that reflect layers of time and memory. Avoiding grand narratives, the artist leans into the idea of ‘working with what’s already there’, responding to cycles of production, consumption and waste in a culture of excess.

Travelling to London in the late 1970s was pivotal to Ohtake, who was immersed in its punk scene and introduced to 20th century art movements such as Dadaism, Surrealism and Pop Art. Upon his return to Tokyo in the 1980s, Ohtake gained recognition for his highly experimental approach to art-making. It reflected the cultural upheaval in post-war Japan at the time, from the rise of social activism to the influx of American pop culture. His Scrapbooks (1977–ongoing) series comprises densely bound scrapbooks created using fragments of magazines, photographs, receipts, posters, ticket stubs and other printed matter. Haphazardly layered over one another and often painted or scribbled on, these colourful, explosive collages take on a sculptural quality and act as visual archives of the artist’s lived experience.

Ohtake obtained his BFA in Oil Painting from Musashino Art University, Tokyo in 1980. His work is found in major collections including Museum of Modern Art, New York; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Dallas Museum of Art; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; M+, Hong Kong; Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Fukuyama Museum of Art; Benesse Art Site Naoshima; and Fukuoka Art Museum.

Notable solo exhibitions include Shinro Ohtake (2022), The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; BLDG. 1978-2019 (2019), Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto and Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito; Okusoku – Velocity of Memory (2013), Takamatsu City Museum of Art; NEWNEW (2013), Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art; Shinro Ohtake (2012), Art Sonje Center, Seoul; New Universe on the Road (2007), Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and Fukuoka Art Museum; Zen-Kei: Retrospective 1955-2006 (2006), Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including Pacific Century—E Hoʻomau no Moananuiākea (2022), 1st Hawai‘i Triennial, Honolulu; Restoration of the Sea (2019), 4th Setouchi Triennale, Kagawa; APT9 (2018), 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane; 3rd Setouchi Triennale (2016), Kagawa; Art Fahrenheit 451 (2014), 5th Yokohama Triennale; The Encyclopedic Palace (2012), 55th Venice Biennale; and 10,000 Lives (2010), 8th Gwangju Biennale.

Ohtake had his residency at the STPI Workshop in 2015, resulting in the exhibition Paper – Sight (2016).