Hisachika Takahashi, a Japanese artist who exhibited internationally and assisted renowned figures including Robert Rauschenberg and Lucio Fontana, has died at the age of 85. His passing was announced by Tokyo-based gallery Misako & Rosen.

Born in Tokyo in 1940, Takahashi devoted his life to a collaborative, communal art practice. He was one of four children in a family raised by a single mother after his father died during World War II. While studying sculpture at Tama Art University, Takahashi met Italian sculptor Roberto Crippa, who encouraged Takahashi to study in Crippa’s Milan studio. Aged 21 at the time, Takahashi funded his one-way trip to Italy by selling a large commissioned sculpture of a battleship to the city of Yokosuka. He departed by cargo ship in 1962.

In Milan, Takahashi first worked as Crippa’s assistant from 1962 to 1964, and then as Lucio Fontana’s until 1968. Notably, Takahashi assisted with 10 paintings for Crippa’s presentation at the 1964 Venice Biennale. However, Takahashi’s role extended beyond offering mere technical services: he also managed the artists' studios, attended to their health, and handled domestic duties

Alongside serving as a studio assistant, Takahashi developed his own artistic practice. Between 1966 and 1967, he created the Untitled series, using paint rollers and fluorescent pigments to layer floral motifs onto canvases. When the work was presented in a solo exhibition at Wide White Space in Antwerp, Fontana visited and praised the show, saying it “secures [Takahashi’s] artistic future.”

In 1969, American philanthropist John de Menil visited Takahashi’s studio in Milan, and invited him to New York for what was meant to be a three-week vacation. The visit evolved into a decades-long stay. There, Takahashi met Robert Rauschenberg, igniting a professional relationship and close friendship that would last nearly 40 years. Takahashi travelled around the world with Rauschenberg, contributing to projects such as Carnal Clocks (1969), Cardboards (1971–72), “Bones” and “Unions” (1975), and Japanese Clayworks (1982/85) as his assistant.

During his time in New York, Takahashi immersed himself in the Downtown artistic community. He participated in the city’s oldest nonprofit alternative art space 112 Greene Street (now known as White Columns), and worked as a chef at the artist-run restaurant Food founded by Gordon Matta-Clark, Carol Goodden, and Tina Girouard.

In addition to his effervescent paintings and minimalist sculptures, Takahashi explored the theme of memory in his conceptual work. In 1971, he initiated the project FROM MEMORY DRAW ME A MAP OF THE UNITED STATES (1971–72), inviting 22 artists—including Jasper Johns, Joseph Kosuth, Cy Twombly, and Matta-Clark—to draw the U.S. from memory.

More recently, Takahashi’s own oeuvre was the subject of multiple reappraisals. Solo exhibitions of his work were held at institutions including including the Exhibition Research Centre in Liverpool (2013), Sean Kelly Gallery in New York (2013), and Annet Gelik Gallery in Amsterdam (2015). In 2016, he collaborated with younger artist Yuki Okumura on the exhibition “Hisachika Takahashi by Yuki Okumura” at Maison Hermes Le Forum in Tokyo. Through an intergenerational dialogue, their joint project explored the notion of decentering the self as the primary subject of art-making.

In a tribute, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation wrote: “Studio assistant, art handler, conservator, gardener, cook, handy-man, in-house security guard, and consummate artist, Hisachika Takahashi was a force to be reckoned with and will be missed.” Takahashi is survived by his wife, Agathe Gonnet, and their son, Hummingbird.

Two of Takahashi’s paintings from the Untitled series (1966–67) are currently on view at Hong Kong’s Empty Gallery until August 23.

Sanle Yan is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.