Robert Kobayashi

Biography

Born in Honolulu, HI, 1925
Honolulu School of Art, Honolulu, HI, 1946-1948
Brooklyn Museum School of Art, Brooklyn, NY, 1950-1951
Died in Honolulu, HI, 2015

ROBERT KOBAYASHI (1925-2015) traveled to New York City from Hawaii following WWII to study at the Brooklyn Museum School. After exhibiting with the AbEx artists at the Camino and Brata galleries, Kobayashi stepped away to explore materials and techniques informed by his personal history and immediate surroundings. In 1978, the artist purchased a building in Little Italy, transforming the former butcher shop, Moe’s Meat Market, into a studio/gallery. There, Kobayashi drew his creative energy and materials from the neighborhood, exhibiting a mixed media style dubbed “clouage,” composed of repurposed ceiling tin and metal cans. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; the Brooklyn Museum; and the Honolulu Museum of Art, among others.

Exhibition History

• 
  Robert Kobayashi: Moe's Meat Market 17 September 2020 - 07 November 2020

Publications

Select Press

1. As Told by Kate Keller Kobayashi
2. Design Milk
3. The Spirit of Elizabeth Street by Ann Herman
4. Whitehot Magazine
5. TheGuide.Art
6. The New York Times
7. Design Milk
8. Apollo

1. YomiTime
2. The New Yorker
3. New York Magazine
4. Hyperallergic
5. Chronology (published by Moe's Meat Market)
6. The New York Times
7. The New York Times
8. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
9. AskANewYorker
10. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
11. The New York Times
12. Tattooed Angel (Nassau County Museum Catalogue)
13. The New York Times
14. Newsday
15. New Times
16. Arts
17. The New Yorker
18. The New York Times
19. The New York Times

Additional Images