[9] In 1924, Okada dropped out from Tokyo School of Fine Arts and left for Paris where he studied with fellow Japanese expatriate Tsuguharu Foujita, executing paintings of urban subjects.

[8]: 53  The art dealer Betty Parsons, who was promoting Abstract Expressionist painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman, visited Okada's studio in 1952, recognised his talent, and supported him for the next 30 years.

The American artist Michelle Stuart wrote: "when Okada came to the United States he was already a mature painter, well considered in his native Japan.

To American abstraction Okada brought civilized restraint, an elegance of device and an unusual gift for poetic transmutation of natural forms.

"[11] At the 29th Venice Biennale in 1958, Okada’s work was exhibited in the Japan Pavilion (representative: Shūzō Takiguchi; assistant commissioner: Ichirō Fukuzawa and Yoshiaki Tōno) alongside that of five other Japanese artists (Ichirō Fukuzawa, Kawabata Ryūshi, Seison Maeda, Yoshi Kinouchi, Shindō Tsuji), and Okada won Astorre Meyer Prize and UNESCO Prize.

Okada's style and colours, which evoke the aesthetics of traditional Japanese art, were popularised under the name of Yugenism (ユーゲニズム; 幽玄主義), and he achieved great commercial and critical success as a Japanese-American artist in New York.

"[12]: 27  His paintings from the 1950s and 1960s reveal subtle changes in the natural world through the use of imagery constructed with delicate, sensitive color tonalities, floating within the compositional space.

Okada evokes the aura of landscape by using earth colors, abstract patterns hinting at rocks and flowers, and an overall haziness that makes his scenes look submerged in water.

Bringing traditions of Japanese art to the New York School of abstraction, Okada distills the essence of nature into his painting, making it seem elemental and thus sublime.

The art historian Bert Winther-Tamaki points out that "The painting he did in Japan before 1950 was figuratibe and bore a close resemblance to styles of the École de Paris.

"[12]: 27  Furthermore, Winther-Tamaki observes that "the affirmation of national identity provided a status for Okada in an international context of art that would withstand comparison with American artists.

[18] Ultimately, in 2022, the New York State Capitol held the exhibition Isamu Noguchi & Kenzo Okada to celebrate Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month.