Roger Shimomura(bornRoger Yutaka Shimomurain 1939 inSeattle) is an Americanartistand a retired professor at theUniversity of Kansas,having taught there from 1969 to 2004. His art, showcased across the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and Israel, often combines Americanpopular culture,traditional Asian tropes, andstereotypicalracial imagery to provoke thought and debate on issues of identity and social perception.[2]
Roger Shimomura | |
|---|---|
 Shimomura in 2009 | |
| Born | Roger Yutaka Shimomura[1] June 26, 1939 Seattle,Washington |
| Alma mater | University of Washington; Syracuse University |
Early life
editRoger Shimomura was born on June 26, 1939, at the Shimomura family home inSeattle, Washington'sCentral District.He was delivered by his grandmother, Toku, a professionalmidwifewho would become an important figure in his life and art. His father, Eddy Kazuo Shimomura, was apharmacist,and his mother, Aya, was ahomemaker.Both parents were U.S.-bornniseiwhose parents had emigrated from Japan in the early 1900s.[3]
After theattack on Pearl Harbor,signing ofExecutive Order 9066,and the beginning ofJapanese incarceration,his family was forcibly relocated on short notice and incarcerated atCamp HarmonyinPuyallup, Washington.They were transported from there to the more permanentMinidokacamp inIdaho.After about two years at Minidoka, the family moved toChicago(outside the West Coast Japanese exclusion zone), where Shimomura's father had secured a job in a pharmacy. The family lived there for a few months before returning to Seattle at war's end in 1945. Shimomura's younger sister Carolyn had died ofmeningitisduring their stay in Chicago.[3]
The family returned to their home in the Central District, and his father resumed his pharmacy work. Shimomura was not yet fully aware of the implications of the racial hierarchies around him. As a child in the postwar years, he played a game called "Kill the Jap" with the sons of artistPaul Horiuchi,who lived across the street.[3]As he grew up, he felt increasing anguish over the conflict between his father's wish that he become a doctor, and his own desire to follow in the footsteps of his three uncles, who were allcommercial artists.[4]
Education
editAfter graduating fromGarfield High School,Shimomura began studyinggraphic designat theUniversity of Washington,earning hisBAin 1961. He was required to join theROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps)program. Despite his severe distaste for the program, he did very well in his military studies. From 1962 to 64 he served as an artillery officer in the1st Cavalry Division,stationed atFort Lewis,Washington, and in Korea.[4][5]
After leaving the Army, Shimomura began working as a commercial artist and designer, including work on the Polynesian Pavilion at theNew York World's Fairin 1964. He became frustrated with the limitations of the field. He began takingpaintingclasses at the University of Washington, where, under the influence of the emergingPop Artmovement, he discovered the possibilities in combining fine art with his lifelong interest inpop culture.Transferring toSyracuse Universityin New York, where he experimented withfilmmakingandperformance art,he received hisMFAin 1969. That same year he took a job teaching art at theUniversity of KansasinLawrence, Kansas.He taught there for the next 35 years, until his retirement in 2004.[4][5]
Career
edit
In 2013, he told an interviewer,
"My biggest influences initially were the California Funk ceramics artists. Their irreverence helped me break out of my conservative Asian thinking mode. These clay artists said in their works that nothing was sacred, that we needed a fresh start and needed to examine everything. There was a sense that art could take a leadership role in this revolution."[6]
He has also expressed admiration for the Pop Art movement, citingAndy Warholas "my biggest influence, visually, historically, and stylistically".[6]
Shimomura's paintings often take stereotypical American images of Asians: glowering, buck-toothed wartime "Japs",Fu Manchu,subservientgeishas,martial artists,and skewer them through over-the-top exaggeration or juxtaposition with images of idealized American society. Pop culture icons such asMickey Mouse,Coca-Cola,andPikachuappear incongruously in bright, flat-perspectivelandscapes,sometimes with absurdly alteredportraitsof Shimomura himself.[6][7]His more subtle works often combine traditionalJapanese woodblock printingwith impressions of the incarceration camps, taken from both his own youthful memories and passages from the diary that his grandmother Toku kept for many years.[4]
While continuing to teach at the University of Kansas, Shimomura gradually became one of the most recognized artists in the United States, amassing awards and exhibition in many of the country's major museums and arts institutions.[8][third-party source needed]Since his retirement from teaching in 2004, he has continued painting, giving lectures, and exhibiting.
Collections
editHis works are in the permanent collections of theMetropolitan Museum of Art(New York), theWhitney Museum of American Art(New York), theSmithsonian American Art Museum(Washington, D.C.),[1]theDenver Art Museum,theJapanese American National Museum(Los Angeles, CA), theSeattle Art Museum,the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington, theDetroit Institute of Arts,theNew York Public Library,thePhiladelphia Museum of Art,theAsian American Arts Centre(New York), thePhoenix Art Museum,theTacoma Art Museum,theSpencer Museum of Artatthe University of Kansas,theMarianna Kistler Beach Museum of ArtatKansas State University,theUlrich Museum of ArtatWichita State University,the Mulvane Art Museum atWashburn Universityand other museums and institutions.[2][8]
Exhibitions
editHis paintings and prints have been the subject of more than 150 solo exhibitions. In addition, he has participated in hundreds of group shows in museums, galleries, schools, and other institutions in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and Israel.
Hisexperimental theaterpieces have been performed at such venues as theSmithsonian Institution(Washington, D.C.), theFranklin Furnace(New York City), theWalker Art Center(Minneapolis), and theBellevue Arts Museum(Bellevue, Washington).[8][third-party source needed]
Awards
editHonors and awards include:
- 150th Anniversary Timeless Award, University of Washington College of Arts & Sciences, Seattle (2012)[citation needed]
- United States ArtistsFord Fellow for Visual Arts (2011)[9]
- First Kansas Master Artist Award in the Visual Arts, Kansas Arts Commission, Topeka, Kansas (2008)[citation needed]
- Joan MitchellFoundation Painting Award, New York City (2003)[citation needed]
- Kansas Governor's Arts Award, GovernorJoan Finney,Topeka, Kansas (1994)[citation needed]
- In 1999, the Seattle Urban League designated a scholarship in his name that has been awarded annually to a Seattle resident pursuing a career in art.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ab"Roger Shimomura | Smithsonian American Art Museum".Archivedfrom the original on 2017-04-06.Retrieved2015-06-09.
- ^aba/p/a Artist in residence:Roger Shimomura;http:// nyu-apastudies.org/2012/roger-shimomura/Archived2020-08-15 at theWayback Machineretvd 7 14 15
- ^abcC-SPAN: Roger Shimomura Oral History Interview by Alice Ito for Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, 3-18-2003;http:// c-span.org/video/?300099-1/roger-shimomura-oral-history-interviewArchived2020-10-28 at theWayback Machine
- ^abcdDensho Encyclopedia: Roger Shimomura;http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Roger_Shimomura/Archived2015-07-14 at theWayback Machineretvd 7 13 15
- ^abGoodyear, Anne Collins, "Roger Shimomura, an American artist",American Art,Vol. 27, No. 1 (Spring 2013), pp. 70-93
- ^abcMori, Darryl;Roger Shimomura: Rebel With a Cause,Discover Nikkei;http:// discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2013/7/22/roger-shimomura/Archived2015-07-14 at theWayback Machineretvd 7 13 15
- ^National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution;Asian American Portraits of Encounter;Roger Shimomura;http:// npg.si.edu/exhibit/encounter/shimomura.htmlArchived2015-03-12 at theWayback Machineretvd 7 14 15
- ^abcRoger Shimomura; resumé complete;http:// rshim /resume.htmArchived2015-05-03 at theWayback Machine;retvd 7 13 15
- ^"United States Artists Official Website".Archivedfrom the original on 2012-01-10.Retrieved2011-12-07.
Works cited
edit- Hackett, Regina (2004-03-11)."Shimomura explores racism in all its guises – from the racist's POV".Seattle Post-Intelligencer.Retrieved2007-04-27.
- North, Bill (2003)....to build up a rich collection...:Selected Works From the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art.Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art.ISBN1-890751-11-1.
- Paget, Mindie (2004-05-11)."A Sansei Story".Lawrence Journal-World.Archivedfrom the original on 2007-09-30.Retrieved2007-04-27.
- Susan N. Platt (2004)."Racism is About All of Us".Raven Chronicles.Archived fromthe originalon 2011-11-16.
- Emily Stamey,The Prints of Roger Shimomura A Catalogue Raisonné, 1968–2005Archived2012-10-10 at theWayback Machine,University of Washington Press, 2007,ISBN978-0-295-98672-2
External links
edit
- Fall 2009 newsletter of The Wing Luke Asian Museum,includes artist's statement for Shimomura exhibitYellow Periland reproduces the titular painting.
- Oral Histories: Roger Shimomura,C-Span,July 9, 2011