Shigeru Onishi (1928–1994) occupies a singular position in postwar Japanese art. Born in Okayama prefecture and trained as a mathematician, he pursued advanced research in topology at Hokkaido University while developing an intensely personal artistic practice. Moving freely between mathematics, photography and painting, Onishi sought visual forms capable of expressing abstract concepts such as ‘superinfinity’. Largely indifferent to fame or artistic movements, he devoted his life to what he described as ‘seeking the way’, producing a body of work that would only be fully recognised decades later.
The Tokyo Station Gallery’s ‘Onishi Shigeru: Photography and Painting’ is the first major retrospective of the artist ever held in Japan. Bringing together carefully selected works from the more than 1,000 photographs and paintings Onishi produced, the exhibition reveals the full scope of a practice that defies categorisation.
Onishi’s experimental photographs, created through multiple exposures, solarisation and chemically altered development, stood apart from the realist and journalistic norms of their time, aligning instead with the rise of subjectivist photography in Europe and Japan.
Equally striking are his ink paintings from the 1950s, whose turbulent, wave-like lines embody the spirit of Art Informel while asserting a powerful individuality. Supplemented by manuscripts and materials from his mathematical research, the exhibition offers a remarkable portrait of an artist who fused rigorous intellect with overwhelming visual force.
