KOKI ARTS is pleased to present the exhibition Yoshishige Furukawa: Drawings from the 1980's. In recent years, the postwar art movements in Japan such as Gutai and Mono-ha have been reassessed in the West. On the contrary, Japanese artists who had moved to the US after WWII, with a few notable exceptions, have limited opportunities to exhibit in Japan. Drawings from the 1980's, will showcase unpublished drawings by Yoshishige Furukawa (1921-2008), a Japanese artist who lived and worked in New York City for nearly four decades.

Yoshishige Furukawa was a student at Tokyo Schoool of Fine Arts (present-day Tokyo University of the arts) in 1943, whe his class was forced to graduate early to be drafted into WWII. Furukawa started his professional career as an artist after returned from the war. He received the Dokuritsu Prize (granted by the Dokuritsu Art Association) in 1949, and after much success in Japan, Furukawa went to New York in 1963 as an observer for the World Artists Meeting. He decided to stay in New York and lived there until 2000 when he returned to Japan. After his first solo exhibition in New York at Nihonbashi Gallery, he continued to show big paintings at galleries such as at East Hampton Gallery, Lotus Gallery, Condeso / Lawler Gallery, The Freedman Gallery at Albright College, and Marcia Wood Gallery (Atlanta).

In 1976, Furukawa returned to Japan for the first time in 13 years and had his solo exhibition held at Fuma Gallery (Tokyo). His works using rubber sheets were innovative and introduced to Japan for the first time. As his works influenced many Japanese artists, the exhibition was covered by many media, and it was widely appraised by critics. Drawings from the 1980's will showcase drawings created with the impression of the rubber sheets, and drawings (76.5 x 105 cm) created during the 1980's. Using black as the dominant color, the vibrancy of New York in those days and Furukawa's strong determination can be perceived from these drawings. Furukawa's delicate yet sharp lines and the composition of his pictures transmit a strong presence. The black lines filling the picture were drawn using graphite sticks which were not yet introduced to Japan at the time. Through this exhibition, we hope that Furukawa's ideas will be passed on to younger generations and create new inspiration.