ODA Mayumi

Born: 1941 in Tokyo, Japan
Medium: Silkscreen, Etching and paintings

After graduating from Tokyo University of Fine Arts, Mayumi married, came to the US in 1966, and began printmaking shortly thereafter. Her art combines devotion to Zen Buddhism with a strong activist and feminine view of life. She has created many different series of prints, such as Treasure Ship Goddesses, Victorian Inventions, Women of Storyville, Rainbow Female Buddhas, Women in the Sea, and Wheel of Dharma Vegetables. Subjects have included the Buddhist deities Kan-on and Tara, the classical Aphrodite and Gaia, and the “American goddess” Marilyn Monroe.

Mayumi is deeply attuned to nature and has always been nurtured by gardens. She lived near the Green Gulch Zen Center farm and now does organic farming in Hawaii. This has inspired a celebration of nature’s beauty in her art. The book, “I Opened the Gate, Laughing” is illustrated with artwork done since 1970: scenes of flowers, vegetables, and women working or relaxing in gardens. There, the artist recounts her personal journey raising two sons and moving towards inner peace--from the sanctity of a garden and her involvement with American Zen practice.

A joyous and loving individual, Mayumi has long been a vocal peace activist opposing nuclear weapons, and helped establish a refuge house for women in Cambodia. Mayumi follows the advice of Raicho Hiratsuka, who wrote in 1911: “Women, please let your sun, your concentrated energy, your own submerged authentic vital power, shine out from you.” Mayumi’s inner strength radiates from all of her art, whether a fanciful garden etching or a bold two-panel silkscreen, and so has achieved her well deserved international reputation as “the Japanese Matisse.”

EXHIBITIONS:
New York City
Bradford, England
Tokyo
Cambridge
Ljubjlana, Yugoslavia
Nagoya
Washington, DC
Berkeley, California
San Francisco
Kyoto
Los Angeles
Tucson, Arizona
Osaka
Venice, Italy
Cincinnati
New Orleans
Portland, Oregon
Zurich, Switzerland
Retretti, Finland
Paris, France
Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay, CA

COLLECTIONS:
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Cincinnati Art Museum
Library of Congress
Honolulu Academy of Arts
Cleveland Museum
Portland Art Museum
Tochigi Museum of Art
Princeton University Graphic Collection