今井祝雄 IMAI Norio 1946–

1946年(昭和21)、大阪に生まれる。大阪市立工芸高等学校在学中の1964年(昭和39)、心斎橋のヌーヌ画廊で初個展、同年の第14回具体美術展にも出品する。翌年同高校を卒業し、具体美術協会の会員となる。後年「具体大学に学んだ」と本人の言うとおり、美術大学等には進学せず具体美術展を中心にさまざまな展覧会に出品して経験を積んだ。1970年代には、写真や映像を用いたコンセプチュアルな傾向を強め、その後、野外作品やパブリックアートも手掛けるようになる。国内外の美術館、画廊で個展、グループ展多数。また、成安造形大学では1993年(平成5)の開校から2012年(平成24)まで教鞭をとり、後進の指導にも尽力した。

（大阪新美術館建設準備室ホームページより引用）

Born in Osaka in 1946. In 1964, while still attending Osaka City Kogei High School, Imai held his first solo exhibition at the Nunu Gallery in Shinsaibashi, Osaka, and also exhibited at the 14th Gutai Art Exhibition the same year. The following year, he graduated from high school, and became a member of the Gutai Art Association. In subsequent years, rather than go on to attend an art university, he "studied at the Gutai University," as the artist himself put it, gathering experience exhibiting at various exhibitions, primarily Gutai Art Exhibition. In the 1970s, he incorporated a greater trend towards conceptualism using photography and film, and afterwards also tried his hand at outdoor artwork and public art. He has exhibited at numerous solo and group exhibitions at art museums and galleries in Japan and abroad. He taught at Seian University of Art and Design from 1993, when the school opened, to 2012, striving to mentor the young generation.