Born in Kobe, Japan in 1947 as the son of an artisan of printing studio. In 1969, graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Faculty of Education, Kobe University, and became a teacher of the arts and crafts at a public school. In the same year, he exhibited his work at the 1st Contemporary International Sculpture Exhibition and made his debut as an artist. The first solo exhibition was also held in Kyoto (Galerie 16).
In 1974, received the Kobe City Cultural Encouragement Award. In 1975, moved to West Germany. Based in Düsseldorf, he created works of art, has exhibited mainly in Europe and lesser in the United States. In 1986, a second base was established in Nishinomiya, Japan.[1][2][3]
In 1988, he was selected as a representative artist of the 43rd Venice Biennale along with Shigeo Toya and Katsura Funakoshi, and exhibited his work at the Japan Pavilion.[4][5]
In 1995, due to the Great Hanshin earthquake|Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the base of Nishinomiya was lost, so a new base was established in Minoo City, Osaka.
In 2013, he won the 38th Teijiro Nakahara Award for his work Cutting Axis-Longitude-Latitude.[6]
His works are expressed in a variety of ways, including images (photographs, films, videos), performances (and their image recordings), prints, sculptures, and installations.
The production of the work is called "job (= project)", and the drawing that describes the idea of the project is also presented as an independent work.
His work of sculpture or installation is a seemingly unstable structure that combines geometric volumes (cones, spirals) of stone, copper, wood, etc. "I want to express the existence of something invisible, like the universe, with a work in which the entire structure would collapse without one element."
As materials for sculptures and installation works, cloth, stone, glass, iron, stainless steel, copper, bronze, brass, lumber (mainly Douglas fir), and natural wood in their solid state are often used.
His style looks like an abstract, but what is expressed in his work is the embodiment of invisible forces such as gravity.[7][8][9]
An iron meteorite on the work table in Minoo's studio, used for In between friction-Gift from cosmos, 2021.
Studio, Minoo
First in 1971, then in 1972, or even in 1991, he wrote: "What I want to do is to make visible existence, visible connections and visible relations appear more clearly. And to cause non-visible existence, non-visible connections and non-visible relations to appear. And to cause visible existence, visible connections and visible relations not to appear.", "What shall I now do with the world (cosmos) which denies man understanding and where these three relations comprise antinomies? Shall I find a new meaning in the world? How to shape relations between people? These are questions which deeply concern me."
These words expresses the basic concept from the earliest days of his artist's activities.[10][11][12]