Milt Kobayashi with Sheana
(American 08)
There is a quiet sophistication in Milt Kobayashi's painted
canvases, summoning a pensive, ethereal feeling in the viewer.
Kobayashi's subjects are people from another time and place,
yet, they are strangely familiar. The ordinary figures lost
in thought as they take a momentary respite from their routine.
Kobayashi's people are absorbed in the world of contemplation
and meditation--making them attractively aloof.
Milt Kobayashi was born in New York City, and soon after his
family moved to Oahu, Hawaii, and then to Los Angeles when he
was eight. After receiving his B.A. in 1970 from the University
of California-Los Angeles, Kobayashi began working as an illustrator.
In 1977, Kobayashi returned to New York City. As a young illustrator
Kobayashi frequented the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study
the old masters -- Sergeant, Chase, Duvanek, Vuillard and especially
the paintings of Velazquez. Strangely enough, it was through
the study of the western masters, especially Whistler, that
Kobayashi became aware of Japanese art. He began studying the
16th and 17th century Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock print masters
Hokasai, Sharaku and Utamaro. The whole perspective of Japanese
art allures him -- the patterns, colour, and harmonies, use
of negative space, and primarily, composition and design.
Kobayashi, himself a creature of the city at
night, is drawn to the same foreboding, nocturnal scenes that
magnetized Toulouse-Lautrec. Known for his cafe and bar scenes,
which dominated his work in the 90's, he has now moved to the
non-smoking section and is gravitating toward quieter settings
-- an afternoon tearoom, a milliner's shop, the tranquillity
of a private home. Still a tone list, he admits to a growing
freedom in his use of colour. Backgrounds of red or green and
the artist's extensive use of black intensify his compositional
use of negative space and serve to focus attention on atmosphere.
While he is less and less a painter of details, it is the hint
of detail that most intrigues us, and Milt Kobayashi has perfected
the fine art of subtlety.
British art correspondent, Godfrey Barker wrote
of Kobayashi, "Milt Kobayashi's compositions are wicked
in their education, wicked in their skilful calculation and
wickedly clever in their balance, their tonal contrasts and
their negative space. In short, we're looking at an unusually
professional and well-sourced artist, cultivated in a manner
uncommon in the desert of Disney that is modern America. He's
apart from his age and we need to see more of him!" (London
Evening Standard) His show in London was a sell out.
Kobayashi has received two major awards: the National Academy
of Design's Ranger Purchased Award and the Allied Arts Silver
Medal. His work has appeared in Forbes, Fortune, and Reader's
Digest magazines. His work was featured at the Artist of America
show in Denver, CO for several years and he has had many sold
out shows throughout the United States and England.
