OKABE Masao

Born 1942 in Hokkaido
Based in Hokkaido

Japanese contemporary artist Okabe Masao is internationally known for his works on the theme of history and memory, including frottage rubbings and drawings executed with earth. Since the late 1980s he has been making a series of rubbings of atomic-bombed remains in Hiroshima, which continues today with its scope broadened to include other cities such as Fukushima. Okabe is also actively engaged in collaborations and workshops. His major exhibitions include Art for the Spirit: The Gaze of Eternity (Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, 2001), Masao Okabe Synchronicity Project (Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, 2005), Is There a Future for Our Past? (Japanese pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007), Hiroshima in Tasmania (Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, 2011), Remembering and Documenting Minamisoma (Minamisoma City, 2013), and the Sapporo International Art Festival 2014: City and Nature (Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art).