Collection: Tadasky Kuwayama

Tadasky Kuwayama is known for his color, geometric, Opt Art style of painting. Opt Art or Optical Art is form of abstraction that plays with the viewer’s visual perception. Master of the circle, Tadasky works almost exclusively in concentric rings creating infinite variations. By tweaking colors and widths, Tadasky caused color to appear to fluctuate, his circles to pop off of the canvas and into the viewer’s space. These compositions are calculated, precisely created and seem to radiate outward from the center.

Tadasky emigrated from Japan in 1961. Shortly after arriving in New York, Tadasky set out to create tools that would aid him to create the perfect rings he envisioned. Through painstaking experimentation in his studio, Tadasky developed a special wheel for his circles and adapted it into a drum for vertical lines. For brushwork, he used traditional Japanese brushes best suited to the fine detail of his paintings.

“My work uses geometric forms, most often the circle, because these allow me to create the visual impact that I seek. There is no philosophy or theory involved. I use identifying numbers rather than literary titles for my paintings because the artworks are not meant to refer to anything outside themselves.”

Tadasky was born in Nagoya, Japan. He currently resides in Queens, NY. His work is widely collected by many fine art institutions and private collections worldwide: Museum of Modern Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Museum of Fine Art Houston,Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki, the Nagoya City Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Nagaoka, the Gutai Pinacotheca in Osaka, David Rockefeller and James Michener collections.