Ushio Shinohara

Ushio Shinohara is a painter and sculptor living and working in Brooklyn, New York. He is known for his “Boxing Paintings”, in which he attaches sponges to boxing gloves, saturates them with paint, and punches across large canvases to create action-filled compositions. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Shinohara is a central figure in postwar Japanese art. A founding member of the Neo-Dada Organizers, Ushio Shinohara embraced pop art as early as 1963 with his “Imitation Art” series, a critical take on the work of American pop artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Shinohara moved to New York in 1969, where he began creating figurative works, including his series of cardboard sculptures of motorcycles. In 1991, Shinohara revived his “Boxing Paintings” series and has continued creating these dynamic works in both public and private settings. His work has been featured in institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; and the Japan Society, New York.