1960 - 1963
Japan Art Career Years
After graduating from university, she became a middle school art teacher in 1960 and her aunt, Chiya Kuni, opened her dance studio to artists. Soon young avant-garde artists, including members of Group Ongaku, started to gather there and Kubota befriended them. In 1963, she entered her works in the 15th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition for the first time. These abstract pieces utilized pre-existing cylinders and welded thin metal poles, marking a notable turn from her earlier sculptures shown at Shinseisaku exhibitions. Kubota quickly gravitated toward the avant-garde around this time.
In 1963, I held my solo exhibition at Naiqua Gallery in Shimbashi (Tokyo). Owned by a doctor [of internal medicine], this gallery was a magnet of avant-garde artists. I filled the gallery space from the floor to the ceiling with scraps of love letters, covered them with a white cloth, and placed metal pipes on top of those. Visitors had to climb a mountain of paper scraps. It was like a participatory performance and a piece of Environment art. Although I was confident, I received no review from newspapers and magazines. At the age of twenty-four, I received a psychological shock. Thinking that women artists had no chance, I moved to New York in the following year.
Chronology: Japan Early artwork
1960
■ [Mar.] Graduated from Tokyo University of Education.
■ [Apr.] Started teaching at 2nd Ebara Middle School in Shinagawa-Ward, Tokyo.
■ [After April] Stayed with her aunt and dancer Chiya Kuni and befriended members of Group Ongaku and other artists through Chiya Kuni Dance Institute.
1961
■ [Sept. 22‒Oct. 10] Shiseki 5 [Death Stone 5] and Shiseki 34 [Death Stone 34] were selected for the 25th Shinseisaku Exhibition (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum).
1962
■ [Sept. 22‒Oct. 10] Her sculpture, Shiseki T [Death Stone T] was selected for the 26th Shinseisaku Exhibition (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum).
1963
■ [Mar. 2‒Mar. 16] Showed two metal sculpture we can make it, Suddenly at the 15th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum).
■ [Dec. 1‒7] First solo exhibition, 1st. Love, 2nd. Love . . . Shigeko Kubota Sculpture Solo Exhibition (Naiqua Gallery). ◎ 1st. love / 2nd. love / 3rd. love
■ [Dec. 3‒5] Performed a drop of water in Sweet 16 (Sogetsu Kaikan Hall, Tokyo).