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Lot Essay
ANTAGONISTIC STAND:
'Sixties Art' in Japan
Gutai Art Association, Neo-Dadaism Organizer and Mono-ha
The Japanese art world in the 1960s can be described as a "two-layered structure composed of artists affiliated with organizations and un-affiliated artists"1.The rise of artists outside this organizational structure formed the avant-garde art scene with unconventional means of creating art. In opposition to organization-affiliated artists whom were generally accepted as the cultural norm within Japan, avant-garde artists strove to engage with a broader platform in the art world abroad. The increasing interest in the vision of avant-garde Japanese artists is manifested by their participation overseas exhibitions in the 1960s, including Biennales of Venice, Sao Paulo, and Paris.
This represents a complete departure from the period prior to the Second World War when the direction of art was dominated by the Open Participation Organization (Kobo Dantai). Beginning after the war in the 1950s, the new presence of "unattached artists"who exhibited their art in independent exhibitions provided a counterpoint to the Open Participation Organization. In Osaka, various art groups formed by young artists burning with enthusiasm, including the Genbi (Contemporary Art Panel) launched in 1952, Zero Society, and Gutai Art Association active from 1954 to 1972 in the Osaka and Kansai region. Examples in Tokyo including Neo-Dadaism Organizers who overturned institutional art in the 1960s, and later the Mono-ha formed by young artists active from the late 1960s to 1970s who proposed new ideas but with a less antagonistic and political attitude.
Besides the Gutai Art Association, Neo-Dadaism Organizer and Mono-ha in Japan, groups of artists in other parts of the world were trying to bring new vitality to painting in the 1960s, including Art Informel, CoBrA and Arte Povera in Europe, and Abstract Expressionism in the USA.
The Gutai Art Association contributed greatly in fresh form of 'Sixties Art'. Though was not widely recognized by the mainstream opinion leaders of Japan at that time, its direct engagement with the art world overseas brought global exposure to Japanese avant-garde art . By abandoning consciousness, artists from Gutai Art Association—Shozo Shimamoto, Sadamasa Motonaga, Kazuo Shiraga, Tedasaki Matsuta n i — at tempted t o examine the unconscious depths, previously invisible to the rational eye, through their unconventional and physical creative processes. This unprecedented exploration questioned and denied the traditional art forms of painting and sculpture, opening up possibilities for new media in art.
From these Gutai artists mushroomed a diversity of new art forms which expressed the group's core values of freedom, unpredictability and the force of life. Just as Jiro Yoshihara proclaimed in the first issue of the "Gutai"publication, "It is our desire to embody the fact that our spirit is free."2 Named by Shozo Shimamoto, "Gutai"is the made up from two ideograms, 'gu' meaning 'implement' and 'tai' meaning body or form. The link between matter and the body is the energy that passes through it: life. 3 The absence of paint brush and easel in the two-dimensional works featured in Lot 463, 464, 468, 470, 471 and 512 represent the common practice found in the early career of Shimamoto, Shiraga and Motonaga who deviated from conventional painting practices.
1 The Japan Foundation, Art in Japan Today II 1970-1983, Tokyo, 1984, p. 11.
2 Jiro Yoshihara, "On the Occasion of Publication," Gutai No. 1, January 1955.
3 Gabriella Dalesio, 'Introduction', Shozo Shimamoto, Between East and West-Life, the Substance of Art, edition Morra, Napels, Italy, 2014, pp. 10-11.
Defying conventions of painting with a brush and easel, Kazuo Shiraga was in the habit of laying his canvases on the ground, squeezing out pigments by the tubeful, and then stepping onto the painting itself to mix and spread the thick oil paint with his feet. By physically engaging with the materials in such away, Shiraga demonstrated the exploration of physical action, recasting the canvas as an arena and performance space while the painting became documentation of action. "I want to paint as though rushing through a battlefield, exerting myself to collapse from exhaustion, "Shiraga said in 1955. 1
Dominated by dramatic splashes of crimson and vermillion paint, Untitled, 1962 (Lot 470), with its rich calligraphic swash of both the violence and the grace of Shiraga's unique style. In the flying spatters, one can almost visualize the way Shiraga's heel must have swept and stamped across the surface, consciously blending the colours in a way that wouldn't muddy the bright hues, while also creating a balanced composition. Though process was paramount to Shiraga, it in no way diminishes the importance of the final work, which remains a powerful testament to the career of Shiraga, one of the pioneer action painters of the 20th century.
1 McCaffrey Fine Art, Kazuo Shiraga, New York, 2009, p. 15
'Sixties Art' in Japan
Gutai Art Association, Neo-Dadaism Organizer and Mono-ha
The Japanese art world in the 1960s can be described as a "two-layered structure composed of artists affiliated with organizations and un-affiliated artists"1.The rise of artists outside this organizational structure formed the avant-garde art scene with unconventional means of creating art. In opposition to organization-affiliated artists whom were generally accepted as the cultural norm within Japan, avant-garde artists strove to engage with a broader platform in the art world abroad. The increasing interest in the vision of avant-garde Japanese artists is manifested by their participation overseas exhibitions in the 1960s, including Biennales of Venice, Sao Paulo, and Paris.
This represents a complete departure from the period prior to the Second World War when the direction of art was dominated by the Open Participation Organization (Kobo Dantai). Beginning after the war in the 1950s, the new presence of "unattached artists"who exhibited their art in independent exhibitions provided a counterpoint to the Open Participation Organization. In Osaka, various art groups formed by young artists burning with enthusiasm, including the Genbi (Contemporary Art Panel) launched in 1952, Zero Society, and Gutai Art Association active from 1954 to 1972 in the Osaka and Kansai region. Examples in Tokyo including Neo-Dadaism Organizers who overturned institutional art in the 1960s, and later the Mono-ha formed by young artists active from the late 1960s to 1970s who proposed new ideas but with a less antagonistic and political attitude.
Besides the Gutai Art Association, Neo-Dadaism Organizer and Mono-ha in Japan, groups of artists in other parts of the world were trying to bring new vitality to painting in the 1960s, including Art Informel, CoBrA and Arte Povera in Europe, and Abstract Expressionism in the USA.
The Gutai Art Association contributed greatly in fresh form of 'Sixties Art'. Though was not widely recognized by the mainstream opinion leaders of Japan at that time, its direct engagement with the art world overseas brought global exposure to Japanese avant-garde art . By abandoning consciousness, artists from Gutai Art Association—Shozo Shimamoto, Sadamasa Motonaga, Kazuo Shiraga, Tedasaki Matsuta n i — at tempted t o examine the unconscious depths, previously invisible to the rational eye, through their unconventional and physical creative processes. This unprecedented exploration questioned and denied the traditional art forms of painting and sculpture, opening up possibilities for new media in art.
From these Gutai artists mushroomed a diversity of new art forms which expressed the group's core values of freedom, unpredictability and the force of life. Just as Jiro Yoshihara proclaimed in the first issue of the "Gutai"publication, "It is our desire to embody the fact that our spirit is free."2 Named by Shozo Shimamoto, "Gutai"is the made up from two ideograms, 'gu' meaning 'implement' and 'tai' meaning body or form. The link between matter and the body is the energy that passes through it: life. 3 The absence of paint brush and easel in the two-dimensional works featured in Lot 463, 464, 468, 470, 471 and 512 represent the common practice found in the early career of Shimamoto, Shiraga and Motonaga who deviated from conventional painting practices.
1 The Japan Foundation, Art in Japan Today II 1970-1983, Tokyo, 1984, p. 11.
2 Jiro Yoshihara, "On the Occasion of Publication," Gutai No. 1, January 1955.
3 Gabriella Dalesio, 'Introduction', Shozo Shimamoto, Between East and West-Life, the Substance of Art, edition Morra, Napels, Italy, 2014, pp. 10-11.
Defying conventions of painting with a brush and easel, Kazuo Shiraga was in the habit of laying his canvases on the ground, squeezing out pigments by the tubeful, and then stepping onto the painting itself to mix and spread the thick oil paint with his feet. By physically engaging with the materials in such away, Shiraga demonstrated the exploration of physical action, recasting the canvas as an arena and performance space while the painting became documentation of action. "I want to paint as though rushing through a battlefield, exerting myself to collapse from exhaustion, "Shiraga said in 1955. 1
Dominated by dramatic splashes of crimson and vermillion paint, Untitled, 1962 (Lot 470), with its rich calligraphic swash of both the violence and the grace of Shiraga's unique style. In the flying spatters, one can almost visualize the way Shiraga's heel must have swept and stamped across the surface, consciously blending the colours in a way that wouldn't muddy the bright hues, while also creating a balanced composition. Though process was paramount to Shiraga, it in no way diminishes the importance of the final work, which remains a powerful testament to the career of Shiraga, one of the pioneer action painters of the 20th century.
1 McCaffrey Fine Art, Kazuo Shiraga, New York, 2009, p. 15