Taro Okamoto

Avant-garde artist who reshaped postwar Japanese identity through radical public art challenging traditional aesthetics.

Taro Okamoto (1911–1996) created Japan's most iconic public artwork – the Tower of the Sun for Expo '70 – symbolizing rebirth from nuclear trauma. His philosophy 『Art is Explosion』 rejected both traditional Japanese art and Western modernism, creating a unique neo-primitive style that influenced generations.

During WWII, Okamoto secretly developed his 『Polarized Modernism』 theory while creating propaganda art. Postwar works like 《Law of the Jungle》 (1950) used grotesque mythological figures to critique technological hubris. His 1964 《Myth of Tomorrow》 mural – rediscovered in Mexico in 2003 – depicts atomic radiation through fractured bodies, now permanently installed in Shibuya Station.

As anthropology researcher, Okamoto documented Jomon period artifacts, arguing their ‘violence of form’ offered alternatives to harmonized Heian aesthetics. This inspired his ‘Jomon Revival’ movement impacting architecture and product design. The Taro Okamoto Museum of Art in Kawasaki preserves his experimental studios where he mixed chemicals to create never-before-seen textured paintings.