Images(2)

Minidoka Series #2: Exodus

Date1978

Label TextRoger Shimomura’s approach of representing difficult subject matter with what has now become his signature style of bold colors, graphic lines, and a Pop Art sensibility began around the time that he painted Exodus, the work on view here. Shimomura is a vivid storyteller, weaving personal experience into narrative works that in turn relate to a broader history of human experience. Exodus is one of a series of six paintings about the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho, where the artist was detained as a child. In this painting, Shimomura shows several Japanese-Americans on route to the internment camps after receiving notice of evacuation. The artist has said: “[objects] serve as a constant reminder of who I once was and from where I have escaped.”

Object number79.5

ProvenanceThe artist; [Kiku Gallery, Seattle, Washington]; purchased with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Ofell Johnson

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Kiku Gallery, Roger Shimomura, Apr. 24 - May 17, 1979. Bellingham, Washington, Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Roger Shimomura, May 28 - July 20, 1986 (Marylhurst, Oregon, Marylhurst College, Aug. 2 - Sept. 27, 1986; Eugene, Oregon, University of Oregon Museum of Art, Oct. 5 - Oct. 31, 1986). Pullman, Washington, Museum of Art, Washington State University, Where Two Worlds Meet: Masami Teroka, Roger Shimomura, Jan.19 - Feb. 24, 1989. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Views and Visions In The Pacific Northwest, June 7 - Sept. 2, 1990. Lawrence, Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Roger Shimomura: Delayed Reaction, Jan. 13 - Mar. 10, 1996 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, May 9 - July 28, 1996; Bellingham, Washington, Western Washington University Art Gallery, Sept. 30 - Dec. 7, 1996; New Orleans, Louisiana, Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, Jan. 25 - Mar. 15, 1997). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Contemporary Art: Made in Seattle - A Northwest Summer, May 4 - July 23, 2006. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Ofell H. Johnson

Dimensions60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm)

MediumAcrylic on canvas