Atsuko Tanaka

Why this artist matters now

Atsuko Tanaka (1932, 2005) was a Japanese artist whose work bridged performance, painting, and constructed objects through an engagement with electricity, light, and the body. A core member of the Gutai Art Association, she is best known for Electric Dress (1956), a wearable sculpture of flashing neon tubes and painted bulbs worn in live performance. Her subsequent paintings on canvas translated that same circuitry into looping, interconnected forms rendered in bold synthetic color. Her work is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Source: Paula Cooper · Trust score: 100% · Updated 2mo ago