Ray Yoshida

Ray Yoshida
Born
Raymond Kakuo Yoshida

(1930-10-03)October 3, 1930
Kapaa, Hawaii, U.S.
DiedJanuary 10, 2009(2009-01-10) (aged 78)
Kauai, Hawaii, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Hawaii, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Syracuse University
Known forPainting, printmaking, collage
MovementChicago Imagists

Raymond "Ray" Kakuo Yoshida (October 3, 1930 – January 10, 2009) was an American artist known for his paintings and collages, and for his contributions as a teacher at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1959 to 2005. He was an important mentor of the Chicago Imagists, a group in the 1960s and 1970s who specialized in distorted, emotional representational art.[1]

Born in Hawaii, Yoshida returned there after 2005 when his health began to fail. He studied at the University of Hawaii, but was drafted into the army during the Korean War. Yoshida resumed his studies in Chicago, and received degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Syracuse University.[2]

Yoshida's paintings are strongly influenced by comics[2] and his personal collection of folk art and found objects.[1] His collages are strongly graphic, placing "tiny, oddly shaped details of architecture, fabric, hairdos and other unidentifiable elements"[3] in ordered rows of fragments and tiers .[2] Critic Ken Johnson called his collages "formally captivating, dreamily strange and comically absurd."[3] Both he and his work are referred to as enigmatic, mysterious, and witty.[4]

As a professor, Yoshida was an influential mentor to a great number of artists, including Jimmy Wright, and many of the Chicago Imagists, Barbara Grad, Paul Lamantia, and David Sharpe.[1][5][6]

  1. ^ a b c Larry Finley, "Influential Figure in Chicago Art World: Teacher, Mentor to Artists in Imagism School of 1970s", Chicago Sun-Times, Monday, January 19, 2009
  2. ^ a b c Trevor Jensen, "Ray Yoshida, 1930-2009: Art Institute teacher was part of Chicago Imagists: Member of Chicago Imagists exhibited all over the country", Chicago Tribune, Saturday, January 17, 2009
  3. ^ a b Ken Johnson, "ART IN REVIEW; Ray Yoshida," The New York Times, September 17, 1999
  4. ^ Ken Johnson, "Ray Yoshida, Collage Artist, Painter and Teacher, Dies at 78," The New York Times, Friday, January 16, 2009
  5. ^ Yau, John. Barbara Grad – FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions, Catalogue, essay, Palm Beach, FL: Findlay Galleries, 2018.
  6. ^ Warren, Lynne Art in Chicago 1945-1995. Museum of Contemporary Art, ed. Lynne Warren, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 281–2. Retrieved August 31, 2018.