Leo Amino

Leo Amino was a Japanese-American sculptor known for his Abstract Expressionist sculptures created with a variety of materials, including wood, wire, and plastics.

Leo Amino
Leo Amino standing on the balcony of the Black Mountain College Studies Building with his sculpture Anticipant, summer 1946. Photograph by Beaumont Newhall.
BornJune 26, 1911
Taiwan, Japan (now Taiwan)
DiedDecember 1, 1989
New York City
EducationAmerican Artists School
StyleAbstract Expressionism
Spouse(s)Julie Amino

Biography

Born in 1911 in Taiwan, to Japanese parents, he spent much of his early life in Tokyo, where his father's calligraphy and his mother's floral design interested him in working in art. He immigrated to the United States in 1929, enrolling at San Mateo Junior College before briefly attending New York University.

In 1937 he began studying direct carving at under Chaim Gross at the American Artists School. His pieces were included in the 1939 New York World's Fair alongside those of Isamu Noguchi.[1][2] Another influence was sculptor Henry Moore, whose work Amino encountered on a trip to England in 1938.[3]

Amino's artistic career was briefly halted by World War II, during which he served in the US Navy as a translator. After the war concluded, he noticed the increased availability of synthetic resin due to its use as a substitute for materials that were needed for the war effort. He became the first artist to experiment with and use synthetic resin as an artistic medium, alternating between resin and wood in his sculptures.[4]

In the summers of 1946 and 1950, he taught at Black Mountain College, and from 1952 until 1977 taught at Cooper Union.[5]

Amino died on December 1, 1989, in New York City.[6]

His work is held at institutions including the Asheville Art Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Montclair Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Newark Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.[7]

Group Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions
  • Polymorphic Sculpture: Leo Amino’s Experiments in Three Dimensions, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick (October 20, 2018—April 12, 2020)
  • Leo Amino: The Visible and the Invisible, David Zwirner Gallery, New York (March 19—April 25, 2020)
  • Leo Amino: Black Mountain College Sculptor, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville (upcoming 2022)

References
  1. Hallmark 2007, p. 4.
  2. "Discovering an Unknown Sculptor, 30 Years After His Death". Hyperallergic. 2019-05-12. Archived from the original on 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  3. "Leo Amino". The Johnson Collection, LLC. Archived from the original on 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  4. Hallmark 2007, p. 5.
  5. Yau, John (2020-07-18). "The Art World's Erasure of a Revolutionary Japanese-American Artist". Hyperallergic. Hyperallergic Media Inc.
  6. "Leo Amino". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  7. "Leo Amino The Visible and the Invisible press release". David Zwirner. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  8. "Leo Amino | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  9. Hallmark 2007, p. 6.

Bibliography
  • Hallmark, Kara Kelley (2007). Encyclopedia of Asian American Artists. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 031333451X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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