Heisei era (1989-2019), 2007, Madake bamboo, inscribed interior lid of storage box with light yellow cloth.


5 x 14 x 13 in.

Private Collection, Wilmington, North Carolina

Purchased from Tai Gallery in 2007.

Mimura began with ambitions to become a classical trombonist but returned from conservatory in Germany with an interest in working with his hands, and began making bamboo fences inspiring him to return to school to study this time bamboo art at the Beppu Occupational School. After graduation, he apprenticed with Beppu artist, Yufu Shohaku, who taught him a traditional, rustic style of basketry that incorporates roots and whole chunks of bamboo. Mimura has used that technique to create his own, contemporary form of organic sculptural vessels using madake timber bamboo. This art work is from a series where inspired by clouds, Mimura crafted in the yatara-ami technique this woven sculpture that appears soft and fluid. Unlike many Japanese bamboo artists, Mimura has chosen to sidestep Japan's public exhibition system in favor of working on his own. He has demonstrated basket making for public audiences in Los Angeles, Santa Fe, San Francisco, and Naples, Florida, and has been included in gallery exhibitions at the Asia Society and in major museum collections at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Good estate condition.