Hisao Hanafusa

b. 1937, Miyakonojo, Japan

d. 2025, New York, USA

Born in 1937, Hisao Hanafusa moved from Kyoto to New York in 1963 and was influenced by the practice of creating a resolution of the disparate forms of the painterly and sculptural worlds into a harmonious congruence. Almost exclusively vertical in structure, Hanafusa’s artworks elaborated the possibilities of the horizontal line, using arrangements of tubing and canvas to create patterns that were simultaneously fluid and crisp; visible and hidden. While Hanafusa was certainly in a Minimalist mode during the creation of his artworks. Minimalist facture was impersonal. Yet, Hanafusa’s tubing is not all cut from industrial materials and assembled. Rather, made with an exacting precision, these materials start to echo with the artist’s personal touch, providing contrasts of texture and tint. The dualistic nature between Minimalism and intention, monochromatic and lush coloration, gives the implication that Hisao Hanafusa’s art is more a personal statement than adherence to a prevailing movement. Hanafusa is able to create a vision where contradictions are encouraged and can be elegantly combined; where a viewer can see firsthand the possibility of the impossible. Hisao Hanafusa lived and worked in New York.