Ray Yoshida's 1995 collage on paper, "Really?," is
one of 80 works featured in a retrospective exhibition
at the Contemporay Museum.

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Ray Yoshida poses questions

Star-Bulletin

It's a rare occasion when a Hawaii-born artist can be credited with helping to develop a nationally recognized art movement.

For the first time in Hawaii, the Contemporary Museum honors the achievements of Ray Yoshida, with an exhibition entitled, "Ray Yoshida -- A Retrospective (1968-1998), running today through June 14.

Yoshida and his students/colleagues, including Roger Brown, Jim Nutt and Ed Paschke, developed a style of figuration which became known as the Chicago School or the Chicago Imagists.

Born in 1930 in Kapaa, Kauai, Yoshida began making collages from cut-out details from comic books in the late 1960s. His paintings from the last three decades reflect the influence of this early source in their stylized, bold imagery involving mysterious fantasy landscapes that blend representation with abstraction.

Said Yoshida, "I don't think painting that only gives answers (i.e. Norman Rockwell) is very interesting, exciting.

"I like works that have some answers but also provide questions to the viewer."

His work can be seen in numerous public collections throughout the United States, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Yoshida is currently a Sellers professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Contemporary Museum is at 2411 Makiki Heights Drive. Call 526-1322.