堀尾貞治／Horio Sadaharu

堀尾貞治は、兵庫県神戸市生まれの現代美術家です。定年まで会社員として勤めながら、それ以外の時間を美術に注ぎ、生涯をかけて精力的に創作しました。

堀尾が「一生美術をやる」と決心したのは小学校の頃、美術教諭の喜岡徳光との出会いがきっかけでした。中学卒業後は、家計を支えるために三菱重工業神戸造船所に就職しますが、そのかたわら独学で作品の制作を開始します。1957年から芦屋市展に出品し始め、1965年には第15回具体美術展に初めて参加します。この頃、具体美術協会には若手とベテランにかかわらず多くの作家が加入して新風を吹きこんでいましたが、堀尾も1966年にその一人となりました。多作で知られる堀尾ですが、その作風や造形は多岐にわたり、特定の様式に収まりません。たとえば、様々な物体や画面に絵の具を一日一色塗り重ねた作品や、色とりどりの布を束ねて白い画面に貼りつけた絵などが代表作として挙げられます。具体美術協会の解散後は、パフォーマンスによる制作から書に至るまで、多様な手法やジャンルを横断しました。

1985年に掲げられて以降、堀尾の制作に貫かれた「あたりまえのこと」というコンセプトは、芸術と日常が分かちがたく結びついた彼の本質を、如実に表しています。

Sadaharu Horio was a contemporary artist born in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. While working as a company employee until retirement, he dedicated his non-working hours to art and actively created throughout his lifetime.

He made the decision to pursue art for his entire life when he was in elementary school, inspired by his encounter with art teacher Tokumitsu Yoshioka. After graduating from junior high school, he joined Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Kobe Shipyard to support his family, but he started creating artworks through self-study on the side. He began exhibiting in the Ashiya City Exhibition from 1957 and participated in the 15th Gutai Art Exhibition for the first time in 1965. During this time, the Gutai Art Association, a Japanese avant-garde artist group, experienced a surge in membership, welcoming numerous artists who infused new energy regardless of whether they were young or veterans. In 1966, he joined as one of the members. He known for his prolific output, has a diverse range of styles and forms that couldn’t be confined to a specific style. For example, his representative works include paintings where he layered paint of a different color on various objects or canvases every day, and paintings where colorful fabrics were bundled and attached to a white canvas. After the dissolution of the Gutai Art Association, he crossed various techniques and genres, ranging from performance-based creations to calligraphy.

Since 1985, the concept of “Atarimaenokoto (the ordinary things)” that has permeated his work vividly expressed his essence, where art and everyday life are inseparably connected.