Milt Kobayashi

Milt Kobayashi was born in New York and started his career as an illustrator. His paintings are startlingly personal and raw, and though calm, there always seems to be something of the survivor in his models, they all seem to be dwelling in their own thoughts and memories.

"For inspiration, I will memorize scenes, store them in my memory and then distill them down to the most important elements. It may be a shadow, a scene from a movie, or the way light hits the face of a stranger walking down the street. Relying on memory as opposed to copying a scene or event stimulates the creative process.
In this manner, you only reproduce what has stuck with you, that is to say, the essential ... your memories and fantasies are freed from the tyranny which nature holds on them." Milt Kobayashi