Mishima Kimiyo

BiographyKimiyo Mishima was born in Juso, Osaka in 1932. In her early carrier she mainlycreated mixed media using printed matter such as newspapers, advertising flyers,tickets and magazines, resulting in collage works that were a kind of communicationbetween her and society. Around the 70’s she started making experiments withceramics applying the same printed materials to a thin layer of ceramic clay througha silkscreen process. The result is three-dimensional works so realistic that somemay think they are real garbage, commonly referred to by her public as “breakableprint matter”. Read More

Through her artworks the artist expresses in a characteristic humorous way her anxiety about the mass consumption society we live in which masses of information is printed in magazines and quickly discarded, as well as all sort of garbage left aside once its contents are consumed. From 1986 to 1987, Mishima got a chance to study abroad, supported by the Rockefeller Scholarship ACC, U.S.A. Now, in her 80s, Mishima is still working actively. Her work is represented, amongst others, in the permanent collections of British Museum, UK; Art Institute of Chicago, US; Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan; M+, Hong Kong; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan, Benesse Art Site in Naoshima.