Hirokazu Kosaka (born 1948, Wakayama) is a Japanese-born American artist, ordained

Shingon Buddhist Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

priest, and the Visual Arts Director at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in

Little Tokyo, Los Angeles Little Tokyo ( ja, リトル・トーキョー) also known as Little Tokyo Historic District, is an ethnically Japanese American district in downtown Los Angeles and the heart of the largest Japanese-American population in North America. It is t ...

. In 1966 Kosaka moved from Kyoto to Los Angeles where he attended

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt and Roy Disney guided the merger of the Chouinard Art In ...

and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts. While at Chouinard he became influenced by

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

, leading to his participation in L.A.’s emerging

scene during the 1970s. Eventually moving back to Japan, he then traveled to Europe and South America before returning to Los Angeles to live in 1976. In addition to his B.F.A. he also holds a Master of Arts in Theology from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. His multi-disciplinary practice spans performance art, sculpture, calligraphy, conceptual art and

Kyūdō ''Kyūdō'' ( ja, 弓道) is the Japanese martial art of archery. Kyūdō is based on '' kyūjutsu'' ("art of archery"), which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan. In 1919, the name of kyūjutsu was officially changed to kyūdō, a ...

(Japanese Zen archery). In 2004, Kosaka performed “In Between The Heartbeat” at the

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It i ...

, using Kyūdō, electric blankets, and copier machines to comment critically on technology. Kosaka has been the recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Brody Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund and the California Arts Council. He was a 2016 USA Andrew W. Mellon Fellow. Notable exhibitions include “On the Verandah: Selected Works from 1969-1974” at

Benton Museum of Art The Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, known colloquially as the Benton, is an art museum at Pomona College in Claremont, California. It was completed in 2020, replacing the Montgomery Art Gallery which had been home to the Pomona College ...

, Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles Art, 1945-1980 at the Getty, and "In the Mood" at

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosaka, Hirokazu American artists of Japanese descent American abstract artists Sculptors from California Japanese emigrants to the United States Living people 1958 births Shingon Buddhists