Hiro Yamagata (born Hiromichi Yamagata, May 30, 1948, in Maibara city, in Shiga prefecture, Japan) is a painter/artist, based in Los Angeles, California.
He has been considered as one of the most famous silkscreen artists because of his use of vivid colors in his pieces. However, he has been known as a contemporary artist using laser and hologram technology recently. He is recognized as a pioneer of contemporary laser art.
In 1972 he moved to Milan to live with a girlfriend. When the relationship ended he decided to move to Paris and settled there. His first solo exhibition was held in Wien in 1973. Most of his works in the mid 1970s were paintings in water and oil colors. He became fascinated with Jazz music and organized Jazz events, at his own expense. In 1974 an installation work using lasers was shown at a theater in Paris.
In 1978, Yamagata moved to Los Angeles and started to use bright silkscreen colors in his work.
In the 1980s he produced work for the Air & Space Bicentennial (1983), the 1984 Olympics, the hundredth memorial anniversary of the Statue of Liberty (1986), the Australia foundation memorial (1988), and the hundredth anniversary of the Eiffel Tower (1988). In 1988 he produced an official portrait of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and started a series of work about golf in collaboration with Jack Nicklaus. He participated in a charity art project, "Very Special Arts" and an exhibition of his work toured Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Fukuoka, Japan. He published a book of his work in 1987.
In 1987, he established the Yamagata Foundation and in collaboration with the Kennedy Foundation held a charity event for physically disadvantaged people. He donated all sales of his piece, Fireworks, to the International Red Cross Society for victims’ relief of the San Francisco Earthquake.
A book of the artists work, YAMAGATA, with texts written by Arnold Schwarzenegger, was published in 1990.
In the 1990s Yamagata created official art works for a celebration of 200 years of emigration to America (1990), the Freedom Campaign in Berlin (1990), the 500th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World (1991), the 3rd IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Osaka (1991), the Barcelona Olympics (1992), Kyoto 1200 year celebration (1992) and the Atlanta Olympics (1995).
In 1999, Yamagata's American Lips exhibition was shown at Marlborough Gallery in New York. He also produced a movie which is related to Beat Generation, a major feature documentary, The Source, and presented at Museum of Contemporary Art in L.A. and N.Y. He held laser installation, Laumeier Lights at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, Missouri. Also, he produced an official piece for the two hundredth anniversary of the White House foundation. In this year, he visited Tibet because of an interview of Asahi TV station. Then, he started creating the series of Eternity of the Silk Road. Also, a PlayStation game which Hideki Tougi took charge of its music part, YAMAGATA Digital Museum, was released.
Yamagata Digital Museum:
Is a Playstation game based on Hiro Yamagata works divided into 4 discs (Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter), in each disc there is an option to check the profiles of Hiro Yamagata, the game staff and Hideki Tougi, and an art option to start watching the different pictures of Hiro Yamagata.
The Art option is divided into Random, Time, Close Up & Catalog.
Manufacturer's description:
Watch the first full-scale painting software PlayStation. You can watch every detail the precise work of painter Yamagata "close-up mode", can be expanded to up to nine times compared to what area? In addition, the search function can be seen immediately want to see work, packed with features unique to digital. Music is completely original songs 8 songs inspired by the composer from the work of artist Hideki Togi that Mr. Yamagata.
Features:
- First person perspective.
- 2D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- Art theme.
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