"Largely under recognised during his lifetime, the US artist Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani (1920-2012) is earning his due in the largest presentation of his work to date, at the Spencer Museum of Art in Kansas. Spanning drawing, collage and mixed media, Street Nihonga: The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani will highlight a life and creative practice transformed by displacement, trauma and resilience. Born in Sacramento in 1920 and raised in Hiroshima, Mirikitani trained in Nihonga, or Japanese-style painting, before returning to the US in 1940."
"Throughout his life, Mirikitani faced significant adversities, including wartime incarceration for having Japanese ancestry, and homelessness. Against this backdrop, his creative output flourished as a way to survive amid periods of global and personal crisis. Mirikitani's work became a form of self-determination as he worked through trauma, depicting scenes ranging from the burning World Trade Center buildings to colourful landscapes and portraits of cats. Mirikitani brought Japanese aesthetics to the streets, and created art in public parks, often collaborating with neighbours and strangers."
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani was born in Sacramento in 1920, raised in Hiroshima, trained in Nihonga, and returned to the US in 1940. He experienced wartime incarceration because of his Japanese ancestry and later periods of homelessness. Mirikitani produced drawings, collages, and mixed-media works that navigated trauma and survival. His subjects ranged from burning World Trade Center scenes to colourful landscapes and portraits of cats. He created art in public parks, collaborated with neighbours and strangers, and brought Japanese aesthetics to street contexts. Mirikitani gained wider visibility through the 2006 documentary The Cats of Mirikitani and died in 2012. A major Spencer Museum presentation now showcases his work.
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