Focus on Time
Paul Horiuchi
King County Courthouse
An abstract collage recalls a Shinto festival from the artist’s youth.
“A festival in my childhood memory remains in my mind,” Paul Horiuchi said of his inspiration for this collage. As part of the annual festival in Japan, he said, children collected pieces of tree stumps outside a Shinto temple, then the people of the village—young and old alike—set fire to the pile of wood and prayed “for a fruitful year of abundance.”
A talented artist, Horiuchi worked primarily in collage to create complex and painterly compositions with torn paper and other mixed media. Focus on Time was commissioned as part of the Honors Program, which recognizes visual artists who have made significant contributions to our region through the sustained production of high-quality artwork. It is currently installed in the 12th floor offices of the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle.
Born in Oishi, Japan, a village at the foot of Mount Fuji, Horiuchi (1906–1999) began painting as a child, studying traditional calligraphy and sumi techniques. He emigrated to Wyoming at age 16, and in 1946 moved to Seattle, where he lived and worked for more than 50 years. In Seattle, he became part of the Northwest School of artists and developed his unique approach to collage, combining Eastern and Western aesthetic sensibilities. His large-scale tile collage at Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheatre is widely considered his best-known artwork. Horiuchi won the Washington State Governor's Award in 1989 and Wing Luke Asian Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.
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King County Courthouse
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