HISAO DOMOTO
Having studied at Kyoto City University of Arts, Department of Japanese Painting, Hisao Domoto accompanied his uncle Insho Domoto on a trip to Europe in 1952. It was during this journey that he made the decision to pursue further studies in Paris. After settling in Paris, Domoto studied oil painting and became friends with fellow Japanese artists Toshimitsu Imai and Kumi Sugai. He devoted himself to the Art Informel movement led by Michel Tapié. In 1956, he produced a new style of painting characterised by the application of thick layers of oil paint and vibrant swirling forms. This work earned him recognition as one of the leading artists of the Art Informel movement, which aimed to create informal abstract expression.
Domoto also introduced Japan’s ‘Gutai’ to Tapié. After 1962, he began experimenting with new expressions of his own, developing the Ensembles Binaires series, characterised by repetitive flying strokes of dripping patterns, and the Solutions des continuités series, which emphasised the focus on materiality. From the late 1960s to the late 2000s, Domoto continued to produce experimental paintings such as his Between Unconscious and Conscious series, composed of intersecting circles and ripples that ebbed and flowed with dreamlike colours and automatism that used blurring and blotting techniques.
