Tarō Okamoto (岡本 太郎, Okamoto Tarō, February 26, 1911 – January 7, 1996) was a Japanese artist, art theorist, and writer. He is particularly well known for his avant-garde paintings and public sculptures and murals, and for his theorization of traditional Japanese culture and avant-garde artistic practices.
A long-lost work by Taro Okamoto was discovered in the suburbs of Mexico City in the fall of 2003. It is a huge mural titled “Myth of Tomorrow. It depicts the tragic moment when the atomic bomb exploded. The work conveys Taro Okamoto’s strong message that people can overcome even the cruelest tragedy with pride, and that “The Myth of Tomorrow” will be born in its wake. However, the work had been left in a poor environment for many years and was severely damaged.Therefore, the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum Foundation launched the “Myth of Tomorrow” Restoration Project to transport the work to Japan, restore it, and then exhibit it widely to the public.The restoration was completed in June 2006, and the first public viewing of the work was held in Shiodome in July of the same year, attracting a total of 2 million visitors in a short period of 50 days. The work was later exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo from April 2007 to June 2008, and in March 2008 it was decided to permanently install the work in Shibuya, where it has been on view since November 18, 2008 in the connecting passageway of Shibuya Mark City. The installation of the work continues to this day.
