Koji Enokura (b. 1942 – d. 1995), born in Tokyo, Enokura studied oil painting and received his MFA from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music in 1968. Enokura taught at the University from 1975 until his death. Fundamentally interested in the responses and interventions that occur when the human body and materials confront each other in space. Enokura used his own body as a medium to problematize the relationship between things and the spaces in which they exist. Enokura is often associated with the Mono-ha (defined as, “school of things,”) group of artists and shares concepts with other Mono-ha members who began working in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Mono-ha movement emerged in Japan around the same time as movements such as Arte Povera, Support/Surfaces, and Anti-Form in Europe and the United States. Enokura’s practice deeply infused a multi-media approach and his oeuvre includes site-specific installation, painting, and photography.
Enokura has had numerous solo exhibitions and was represented in the 10th Tokyo Biennale (1970), the 7th Biennale de Paris (1971), and the Japanese Pavilion of the Venice Biennale (1978, 1980) to great acclaim. His work can be found in the collections of numerous international collections including, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan; Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; Hiroshima City Museum of Modern Art, Hiroshima, Japan; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Kobe, Japan; Japan Foundation, New York, NY; Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan; Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, Japan; Museum of Art, Ehime, Japan; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan; National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan; National Museums Northern Ireland, Holywood, Ireland; Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Takahashi Collection, Tokyo, Japan; Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan; University Art Museum – Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan.