From DiscoverNikkei.org
Thought Warrior: Shinkichi Tajiri
Judith van Praag
On December 7, 2003, on his 80th birthday, artist Shinkichi Tajiri was honored by the Dutch art world, friends and family, with the opening of a retrospective exhibition at the Valkhof Museum in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The show encompassed more than half a century of diverse works.
At the entrance, visitors were welcomed by the latest addition to the prolific artist’s oeuvre, a lineup of 47 Ronin (based on the 18th-century tale of masterless samurai who defend the honor of their deceased master). The nearly nine-foot-tall warriors, sculpted out of foam board —part monstrous fighting machines, part hard core sensuality— embody Shinkichi’s trademark duality. The American-born artist never has liked being put in a box. And with his art he strives to stay far away of any kind of preconceived notion, inviting his audience to do the same.
Shinkichi turned 18 on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese army attacked the U.S. airfield in Hawaii. Shinkichi, his mother and siblings (his father died in 1939) were sent to Poston, AZ internment camp. Out of a muddle of patriotic sensibility and an urge to leave the camp, Shinkichi volunteered for the Army. His future unit, the all-Japanese American 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team, became the most decorated of its size in American military history. On July 9, 1944 Shinkichi was injured during an attack on Castellina, Italy (stone fragments are still lodged in his bones). During his physical rehabilitation in Europe he began drawing fellow soldiers and war scenes.
Shinkichi’s central themes—speed, erotica, force or violence—are a permanent confrontation with the insanity of WWII and its aftermath. “You need obsession to continue, to not give up,” he says. “Thanks to the war, I became an artist. I’m an artist out of necessity. My imagery is the crystallization of my experiences.”
Writer and artist Judith van Praag moved from the Netherlands to Seattle, WA, where she covers art, artists and architecture, books and entertainment. She conducts architectural tours of the Seattle Central Public Library, which was designed by her countryman Rem Koolhaas. Reach her at judith@dutchessabroad.com
Source: Judith van Praag, "Thought Warrior: Shinkichi Tajiri," in Nikkei Heritage Vol. XVII, no.1 (Spring 2005): 8-9.
The National Japanese American Historical Society, a Discover Nikkei Affiliate, contributed this article to the Discover Nikkei web site. Nikkei Heritage is a quarterly journal of the National Japanese American Historical Society, which provides timely analysis and insight into the many facets of the Japanese American experience.