About the artist:

Japanese born artist Kazuo Wakabayashi, is a naturalized Brazilian. He was born in Kobe (Japan) in 1931 and was pupil of Konosuke Tamura, from 1947 to 1950, While still attended a course at the academy Niki, in his native land. Emigrating in 1961 to Brazil, Wakabayashi settled down in São Paulo, opting in 1968 for the Brazilian nationality. His first expositions had been in Japan, between 1957 and 1961. His first individual one in Brazil was given in 1963, Rio De Janeiro, the Tenreiro Gallery, with presentation of Manabu Mabe. When Kazuo Wakabayashi arrived in Brazil, in 1961, he was already a mature painter. He pursued abstraction along the lines of Art Informel, whose main focus was to research techniques, colors and materials. His works display stiff contours and strong colors, at times experimenting with the multiplication of forms, while still characterizing each one in a distinct way, like in Contraponto [Counterpoint], 1970, and Sem Título [Untitled], 1966. In some works, he created rhythms on monochromatic surfaces by enhancing texture and relief, like in Vermelho [Red], 1964, and Abstração [Abstraction], ca.1960. In others, he created relations between diverse forms and textures, like in Abstração Azul [Blue Abstraction], 1968, and Abstração Amarela [Yellow Abstraction], n.d. From the late 1970s onwards, Wakabayashi was more concerned with the issue of texture and relief in painting, often choosing to treat the entire surface of the canvas in an almost uniform way, like in Composição em Amarelo [Composition in Yellow], 1971 - in which the viewer's attention is drawn by two yellow lines delineating a vertical section to the right of the canvas - or confining texture and relief within a circular area, like in Composição em Branco [Composition in White], 1983. In this work, he seems to have scraped off paint, making a slight oblique furrow that bisects the circle and reveals a reddish layer underneath; immediately below, there is a section of the same circle with a different texture. In Composição Abstrata [Abstract Composition], 1970, something similar occurs, only this time the sphere is vertically bisected, revealing a layer of red color underneath. During a later period, Wakabayashi developed works related to the tradition of Japanese ukiyo-e engraving, which deals mainly with the subject-matter of nature and the human figure, and utilized Japanese printed textiles pasted on the canvas. In these works made up of collage and painting, selected prints merge with painted textures juxtaposed on them, as in Insinuação em Negro [Insinuation in Black], 1988, Sem Título [Untitled], 1987, and Composição em Relevo [Composition in Relief], 1983. Some works were given titles allusive to the subject, like Onda [Wave], 1987, and Mensagem do Mar [Message from the Sea], 1987. São Paulo, Salvador, Saints, Brasilia, Washington, Kobe, Tokyo and Nova Iorque, São Paulo, Wakabayashi has participated in innumerable expositions. São Paulo hall of Modern Art. National hall of Modern Art. Seibi hall (Seibikai, in Japanese). Biennial of São Paulo. Nipo-Brazilian Painting Today (Washington, Oakland and Tokyo, 1965). Three Aspects of the Art Brazilian Contemporary (Latin America, 1968). Artists Nipo-Brazilians (Scandinavia, 1969). Exposition of Beautiful Brazil-Japan Arts (Quioto, Tokyo, Atami, São Paulo and Rio De Janeiro, 1983). Tradition and Rupture (São Paulo, 1984) Biennial Brazil Century XX (São Paulo, 1994).