Tadashi Sato

Tadashi Sato (February 6, 1923 – June 4, 2005) was an American artist. He was born in Kaupakalua upon the Hawaiian island of Maui. His daddy had been a pineapple laborer, merchant, and calligrapher, and Tadashi’s grandfather was a sumi-e artist.

In childhood, Tadashi studied Japanese sumi ink painting and calligraphy. He served in the 442nd Infantry Regiment as a language specialist during World War II and went on to attend Cannon School of Business in Honolulu. He then pursued his fascination in art at the Honolulu Museum of Art below the G.I. Bill once the precisionist painter Ralston Crawford, who was a visiting player in residence. In 1948 he went to New York to psychiatry at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Pratt Institute and the New York School for Social Research.

Sato's break came even though he was keen as a security protect at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A friend, who had been energetic as a movie extra, introduced him to actors Charles Laughton and Burgess Meredith, who were both art collectors. They visited Sato’s apartment and bought several paintings. Sato promptly called his boss at the museum to resign.

Between 1950 and 1960, he traveled assist and forth amongst New York and Hawaii, exhibiting both in Hawaii and upon the mainland. In 1960, Tadashi, his wife Kiyoko and two kids returned to the islands. In 1965 Sato was honored by President Lyndon Johnson at the White House Festival of Arts, alongside Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and additional American artists. From 1960 until his death in 2005, he lived in Maui. Along considering Satoru Abe, Bumpei Akaji, Edmund Chung, Tetsuo Ochikubo, Jerry T. Okimoto, and James Park, Tadashi Sato was a enthusiast of the Metcalf Chateau, a intervention of seven Asian-American artists with ties to Honolulu.

Tadashi Sato is considered a believer of the abstract expressionist movement. He is known for his abstract and semi-abstract paintings, mosaics, and murals, some, such as Submerged Rocks, inspired by the positive water of his native Hawaii. His goal was to convey a sense of serenity, balance, light and space. Tadashi’s most famous work is Aquarius, a 36-foot round mosaic upon the floor of the atrium of the Hawaii State Capitol. The piece depicts submerged rocks and water reflections. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York City), the Hawaii State Art Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the University of Arizona Museum of Art (Tucson, Arizona), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City) and Yale University Art Gallery are accompanied by the public collections holding works of Tadashi Sato.