Artists who leave a mark on the art world are those who develop a unique personal style. Milt Kobayashi has found his. A New York based painter of Japanese-American descent, he draws on the aesthetics of both Eastern and Western form to achieve artist balance. Kobayashi’s imagery, like that of 19th century Impressionists he admires, gives a glimpse of everyday life in a manner both playful and sophisticated. Stylistically, the influence of the Japanese ukiyo-e [woodblock] masters is evident in the flattened perspective while cropped imagery, gestural expression and minimal brushstrokes suggest Kobayashi’s refreshing sense of spontaneity.

A graduate of UCLA, Kobayashi began his career as an illustrator. As a young illustrator working in New York City, he frequented the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study the masters - Sargent, Chase, Duvanek, and Vuillard. Even today, as a highly successful painter, he returns to the museum often to spend time with the artists of the 18th and 19th century who have influenced his own work.

He began showing his figurative work in the early 1980’s at Grand Central Gallery in New York; then, joined Austin’s Gallery Shoal Creek in 1984. Over the course of two and a half decades, his work has garnered national and international attention. He exhibits throughout the US and Great Britain where his work is in much demand and highly collected.

In London, MILT KOBAYASHI captured the attention of Godfrey Barker, Art Correspondent of the London Evening Standard.
Read what Barker had to say.