Kota Ezawa: long story short

For more than three decades, Oakland-based Kota Ezawa (b. 1969, Cologne, Germany) has helped shape the Bay Area’s artistic landscape while earning international recognition for his innovative practice. Presented during the Mannetti Shrem Museum’s tenth anniversary year, Kota Ezawa: long story short reflects the museum’s ongoing commitment to celebrating the artists who define the creative spirit of Northern California.

Kota Ezawa: long story short is Ezawa’s first career survey and showcases his range of material exploration while remaining grounded in video animation, or what he describes as “moving paintings.” Ezawa has explored how photographs, films, and news images shape the way we remember people, places, and events. His work asks simple but profound questions: “Do I know this? Do I remember it?” By carefully remaking these images, Ezawa treats remembering as an act of care, a way of acknowledging the people, places, and moments that together make up our shared history.

Created specifically for long story short, the new animation Acts of Painting shifts attention from historical events to the creative act of painting. Combining watercolor with digital animation for the first time, Ezawa situates the work between film and painting, stillness and movement. By making the artist’s gesture itself the subject, Ezawa suggests that art is not separate from history, but one of the ways that history and collective memory continue to be shaped—thus elevating the artistic act.

Kota Ezawa: long story short is curated by Susie Kantor, Associate Curator and Exhibition Department Head.