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Aki Kuroda (1944)

Born in 1944, Aki Kuroda relocated from Kyoto to Paris in 1970 to pursue his artistic calling. Through his early works, he showcased a mature and sensitive perception, garnering praise from art critics and collectors alike. As his art gained recognition, Kuroda’s exhibitions spanned the continents, exhibiting his pieces in Europe, the United States of America, and even across the globe in Chicago, the South of France, and at the Yugoslaia Museum of Modern Art. In 1976, his skill and talent were acknowledged with the prestigious European Painting Prize Ostende Belgium.

Kuroda’s first solo exhibition was held in 1978 in Bermerhaven, Germany, and he continued to showcase his works at the esteemed Galerie Maeght in Paris. As his reputation grew, his masterful pieces were also exhibited at other prominent European galleries, starting from the year 1980.

From the very beginning of his career, Kuroda has experimented with a diverse range of art forms, spanning from traditional drawing and photography to more contemporary forms such as painting and sculptural work. He has also delved into the world of theatre and opera, designing set pieces that showcase his artistic brilliance. Apart from this, he has also dabbled in editing magazines, creating installation works, and even performing live art pieces.

Kuroda’s almost metaphysical approach has resulted in his involvement in a variety of projects, such as his collaboration with renowned architect Tadao Ando in creating a mural for a residential building in Osaka, Japan. He has also worked with the Contemporary Museum of Art in Strasbourg, France, and in the 1990s he created captivating stage sets for the Paris Opera Ballet. In addition, he has lent his artistic vision to various prestigious projects, promoting the intellectual and aesthetic rigor of theatrical endeavors, often collaborating with universities. In 2003, he worked with Richard Rogers to design a theatre and education center in his hometown of Kyoto, Japan. For this project, he created masterful sculptural walls and murals, along with painting the theatre’s safety curtains and mosaic floors.

www.ftn-books.com has now the Maeght Barcelona catalog from1993 available.

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Aki Kuroda (1944)

Born in Kyoto in 1944, Akihiko Kuroda had a lifelong interest in art and painted his first work at the age of four. His family had a great influence on Kuroda as a boy. His father brought magazines like Le Minotaur from Paris. Through these magazines, Kuroda discovered the work of painters such as Picasso and Dali, inspiring him during the early stages of his artistic career. These resources were invaluable to the self-taught. In the 1960s, Kuroda traveled around Europe, finally deciding to settle in Paris in 1970. Kuroda struggled during his early years in Paris, until chance encounters with French-American writer and filmmaker Marguerite Duras, Spanish artist Joan Miru00f3, and gallery owner Adrian Margut decided his fate. Until I changed it, I was going to give up and go back to Japan. Aki Kuroda’s famous participation in the 11th Paris Biennale in 1980 signaled the beginning of his career. Kuroda flouted traditional hierarchies and in 1993 became the youngest artist to have a solo exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Prominent artists Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami acknowledged Kuroda’s influence on their careers in their memoirs. In 2007, Kuroda became the first Japanese artist to be exhibited at the Beijing Imperial Museum and TS1 Museum in China. In Japan, Aki Kuroda’s work is in several public collections around the world, including the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and the National Museum of Art, Osaka. In France, it is housed in the collections of the Marguerite Aime Mag Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Paris, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Strasbourg. In Ireland, Hugh Lane City Museum of Contemporary Art, Dublin. And in Holland at the Peter Steibson Foundation in Amsterdam.

www.ftn-books.com has the Maeght publication from 1986 now available