Born in Nagoya in 1932. After graduating from the Department of Japanese Painting at Tokyo National University of the Arts, he moved to the U.S. in 1958 and continued to work in New York. He is considered to be a leading figure in American minimalism in the 1960s and 1970s. In his early days, he produced works using Japanese painting pigments and washi paper, but after his first solo exhibition in New York in 1961 he shifted to two-dimensional works that combined monochromatic geometric shapes using acrylic paint. His works, which eliminate his subjectivity as an artist and aim for pure art and artistic experience, are still highly acclaimed internationally today.

The transition of Kuwayama’s artistic activities can be traced back to the early days of pigments used in Japanese painting, the period of acrylic paintings until around 1969, the oil paintings of the 1980s, and the period in which he presented space itself as a work of art. Among these, Untitled (TK 1196-ʼ62 Yellow, Red) dates from the period when he used acrylic paint, and the matte texture of the surface and composition clearly express the ascetic creative attitude that underpins all of Kuwayama’s work. Although red and yellow are used in this work, Kuwayama, who sought the existence of a neutral realm beyond emotions in his works, gradually began to use these colors less and less, which are associated with people’s emotions, and started to use metallic colors with aluminum more frequently.