Demise Hisao Text

I love to paint.
It has continued since I can remember, even up to my present age of 77.
What is your purpose in life? When asked, "To die a good death."
Human beings are complicated creatures with complex and contradictory minds.
I create my works with the hope that I will enjoy the complexity of human life and meet my final days.

The definition of my photo collage is as the Muldaur song says
＜It is as beautiful as the encounter between a sewing machine on a dissecting table and a bat umbrella. The relationship between two things that have no relation to each other, meeting in a certain space, on a certain plane, and creating a mysterious meaning.
The relationship between two things that have no relationship to each other but meet in a certain space or plane and create a mysterious meaning is just like life.
At the age of 29, he picked up a camera and began photographing objects that caught his eye as a painter, using as many rolls of film as he could find.
The black-and-white prints from these films are overflowing out of the storage box, and I can't even keep them in order.

A few years ago, I found a box that looked like an old book, and I started to make it into a box art, which is a book art.
Since it is in the form of a book, I can make collages and assemblages on three sides. I use images and cuts from my most memorable old and recent works. I also incorporate small stones, beads, and figurines that seem insignificant. I have departed from the title of the book, and enjoy the fun of combining various objects that come together by chance.

These screens can be seen as a collage of my life.
I hope that you will find your own unique way of seeing, feeling, resonating with, and interpreting this personal play. 　 　
Autumn, 2022

Demise Hisao

1945 Born in Fukui Prefecture, Japan
1975 Studied at the Academia Nacional de Circlo Bezas Artes, Spain

Solo Exhibitions
1976 Galerie Kan (Kyoto) '80
1980 Miyuki Gallery (Tokyo) '83, '86, '89
1988 One World, Anti-World - INAX Gallery 2 (Tokyo)
1989 ABC Gallery, Osaka
1990 Bamboo Gallery, Tokyo; One imaginary time, one real time - Gallery am, Tokyo
1991 Chofu Gallery, Tokyo, '93, '96, '99, '00, '02, '05, '07
1992 Atagoyama Gallery (Tokyo) '94
1994 Gallery TAGA, Tokyo
1995 Gallery 4GAT S (Tokyo)
1996 Gallery A.C.S (Nagoya)
1997 Artland Gallery, Marugame, Japan
1999 - Photo Work, Words of Painting, Eju Gallery (Kyoto)
2000 Between Photography and Painting - Art House Ten Noyes Asahi, Maebashi, Japan
2001 Sanbancho Gallery, Kawagoe City, Japan
2003 -Memories of Me, Memories of the Times- Gallery 4GATS (Tokyo)
2005 - Various Eyes 144 - Caricatures of the Image and the Image of Mujozo, Kawasaki IBM Civic Cultural Gallery, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Gallery Kawabune, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Gallery Ippuga, Saitama, Japan
2009 Ipporyouran Isso Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Group exhibitions and others
2005 Postwar 60th Anniversary Project Today's Anti-War Exhibition (Atomic Bomb Figure, Maruki Museum of Art, Saitama) '06, '07
2006 The 9th Taro Okamoto Memorial I Contemporary Art Award Exhibition, Kawasaki, Japan Yotou Contemporary Art Exhibition, JINGART GALLERY, Shanghai, China
2007 The 8th Ryohei Koiso Grand Prize Exhibition (Prize Candidate), Kobe
2008 Iwasaki Museum 232nd Special Exhibition, Asian Art Scene / Part A: Memories of the Body and Everyday Life, Kuruma Ki-Ritsu and Demise Hisao　Two Artists Exhibition, Iwasaki Museum, Yokohama, Japan
2009 Kujo Art Exhibition, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan

Public Collection
The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art, etc.