Untitled

Kazuo Shiraga, known for his dynamic ‘performance paintings’, was a pivotal member of the remarkable avant-garde art collective Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai. As Japan’s first radical postwar artistic movement, the Gutai group rejected tradition in favor of performative expression and physical engagement with a wide variety of techniques and materials. Shiraga, whose spontaneous gestural works are notable for their visceral energy, once stated: “I want to paint as though rushing around a battlefield, exerting myself to collapse from exhaustion.” Shiraga’s innovative techniques would inspire European and American artists like Yves Klein and Georges Mathieu, and anticipate Arte Povera, Fluxus and conceptual art.

Amagasaki, Japan