Born 1922 in Mie Prefecture, Motonaga attended Ueno Commercial High School in Iga. After graduation, he moved to Osaka, and from 1955, he participated in the Gutai Art Association. In 1964, Motonaga received the Japanese Art Academy Award (Nitten), and in 1966 was invited to New York for the residency program of the Japan Society. He extensively traveled Europe in the following year, and then returned to Japan. Motonaga proceeded to become one of Japan’s representative abstract painters. He exhibited at the Venice Biennale of 1993, and in 1997 received the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 88.

“I’m not one of the intellectuals, I’m one of the idiots,” said Motonaga, who was not only active in oil painting and installation art, but from the 1970s onwards also devoted a lot of energy to printmaking. Motonaga’s way of naming his own works also was particular. Among the works in the editions we produced, just reading those titles in their original Japanese rendering (such as Funyara kunyara, Papapipipu, Heap of Color Balls =“Kasane irodama”, Folding Green =“Ore-gurin” etc.) already is quite amusing.