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Lot Essay
The work is accompanied by a certificate of authentication signed by Marta Massaioli and Kazuo Shiraga, 1st November, 2007.
Kazuo Shiraga joined Gutai in 1955 and is arguably internationally the group’s most well-known member. He initially studied nihonga, followed by yoga painting, before taking up oil painting. He is renowned for using his body to paint, and started experimenting by applying paint with his fingers and hands and then moving to his feet (see image lot 133). Taking this rejection of conventionalism even further, during his iconic performance painting, Challenging Mud (1955), he dressed only in a pair of white shorts, dove into and wrestled with a large pile of mud mixed with stone and cement. The resultant mass was then left where it lay for the duration of the 1st Gutai Art Exhibition at the Ohara Kaikan in Tokyo.
In 1971 Shiraga became a monk of the Tendai sect, but continued producing foot paintings, which became more lyrical as a result of his Buddhist learning.
See Ming Tiampo and Alexandra Munroe, Gutai: Splendid Playground, (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2013). p.306
Kazuo Shiraga joined Gutai in 1955 and is arguably internationally the group’s most well-known member. He initially studied nihonga, followed by yoga painting, before taking up oil painting. He is renowned for using his body to paint, and started experimenting by applying paint with his fingers and hands and then moving to his feet (see image lot 133). Taking this rejection of conventionalism even further, during his iconic performance painting, Challenging Mud (1955), he dressed only in a pair of white shorts, dove into and wrestled with a large pile of mud mixed with stone and cement. The resultant mass was then left where it lay for the duration of the 1st Gutai Art Exhibition at the Ohara Kaikan in Tokyo.
In 1971 Shiraga became a monk of the Tendai sect, but continued producing foot paintings, which became more lyrical as a result of his Buddhist learning.
See Ming Tiampo and Alexandra Munroe, Gutai: Splendid Playground, (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2013). p.306