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Kenjiro Okazaki

おかざき けんじろう

Okazaki Kenjiro

Aliases: 岡崎乾二郎 / おかざき乾じろ
Pen Names: okazaki kenjiro（Alias used on social media and in informal contexts）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1955-10-24 （Tokyo, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Tokyo, Japan

Career

Occupations
Visual artist, Art critic, Professor
Active Years
1980-
Affiliations
Visiting Professor, Graduate School, University of Tokyo, Visiting Professor, Musashino Art University
Influenced By
Michiro Hayashi, Atsushi Okada, Hisao Matsuura, Trisha Brown, Keiji Usami
Influenced
Ryo Sawayama

Education

Tama Art University
Department of Sculpture
Period: 1970年代 (中退)
Country: Japan
Dropped out
B Seminar School
Country: Japan
Completed B Seminar program

Awards

Art Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) (Criticism category)
2018
Work: The Power of Abstraction: Analysis of Modern Art
Category: 評論等部門
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
Result: 受賞
Mainichi Publishing Culture Award (Literature & Arts)
2022
Work: Eden of the Senses
Category: 文学・芸術部門
Organization: Mainichi Newspapers
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Renaissance: Conditions of Experience

2001 Art criticism

A collection of essays discussing the relationship between Renaissance art and experience, attempting to reinterpret art history.

RenaissanceArt historyEmpiricismVisual culture

The Power of Abstraction: Analysis of Modern Art

2018 Art criticism

Analyzes the significance and evolution of abstraction in modern art and proposes the critical potential of abstraction.

AbstractionModern artExpression theory

Eden of the Senses: Selected Criticism

2021 Selected criticism

A selected collection of criticism on visuality and sensation, organizing key issues around contemporary visual culture.

SensationPerceptionVisual culture

Elements of Painting

2022 Art theory

A work containing essays that reexamine the fundamental elements of painting as a language.

PaintingTechniqueVisual expression

Time Unfolding Here: Selected Criticism II

2024 Selected criticism

A follow-up collection of criticism, compiling texts that probe the practice of criticism and its surroundings.

CriticismRepresentationCultural theory

Ashizuka Earthwork Project

1994 Earthwork / Land art

A long-term land-art project conscious of local landscape and community revitalization, practiced over years.

Land artLandscapeRegional revitalization

Recollection of Wittgenstein (8mm film)

1988 8mm film

A short 8mm film themed on Ludwig Wittgenstein, an attempt to trace traces of thought through moving image.

FilmThoughtMemory
Adaptations
  • [8mm film] Recollection of Wittgenstein / 岡﨑 乾二郎 (1988)

Topikapiktus

2020 Children's / experimental

A picture-book-like work for children incorporating sculptural perspectives; an experimental play between form and language.

Picture bookFormWord play

Bibliography

  • Renaissance: Conditions of Experience
  • The Power of Abstraction: Analysis of Modern Art
  • Eden of the Senses: Selected Criticism
  • Elements of Painting
  • Time Unfolding Here: Selected Criticism II
  • Topikapiktus
  • Ashizuka Earthwork Project
  • Recollection of Wittgenstein (8mm film)
  • Japanese-English Confrontation: Contemporary Art Workshop (co-authored)
  • Critical Space Supplement: The Hardcore of Modernism (co-edited)

Adaptations

  • Seat upholstery design for Odakyu Romancecar GSE (70000 series)
  • Ashizuka Earthwork Project (site-specific sculpture / landscape work)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Theoretical and analytical essaysCriticism grounded in visual cultureConceptual and experimental expression
Recurring Motifs
MemoryLandscapeBodySpaceLanguageMedia

Legacy

Kenjiro Okazaki has exerted wide influence on Japanese visual culture and art criticism through his practice as a visual artist and incisive critical writing. His work across exhibitions, public projects, and publications has provoked discourse beyond conventional art boundaries.

Museums

  • Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan
  • Saison Museum of Contemporary Art

Academic Societies

  • Society for Representation Studies

Archives

  • Researchmap researcher page
  • Art Platform Japan artist page
  • Bijutsu Techo artist information

In Popular Culture

  • Seat upholstery design for Odakyu Romancecar GSE (contribution to practical design)

Trivia

  • The author’s original orthography is 岡﨑乾二郎; the alternate form 岡崎乾二郎 is also used.
  • Uses the form 'おかざき乾じろ' on social media.
  • His spouse is the poet Pak Kyung-mi.
  • Designed seat upholstery for the Odakyu Romancecar GSE (70000 series).
  • Has led long-term site projects such as the Ashizuka Earthwork Project (from 1994), engaging local communities.
  • Served as director for the theme display of the Japan Pavilion at the 2002 Venice Biennale (8th International Architecture Exhibition).