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Lot Essay
MOTONAO TAKASAKI: RHYTHM OF REPETITION
After graduating in 1949 from the Sculpture Department of Tokyo Fine Arts School (now known as the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), Motonao Takasaki went on to become a member of the Gutai art group in 1966. During this first year, Takasaki's work was included to represent Gutai alongside fellow artists Sadamasa Motonaga, Kazuo Shiraga, and Jiro Yoshihara in the group's first show in the United States. The exhibition as part of the "1st Japan Art Festival" which was held at Union Carbide Building in New York, before traveling to the Gimbel Brothers in Pittsburgh, then to The Art Institute of Chicago, and then finally to the M.H. De Young Museum in San Francisco.
Since the 1950s, Takasaki has been taking a methodical approach to creating art that depends on the environment the pieces occupy. He respects the physical properties of the materials themselves, while making subtle commentary on societal structure and larger political climates.
Takasaki's sensibility regarding structure and repetition of geometric shapes can be found in his works executed in the 1960s, including the work exhibited at the 1st Hiroshima Renaissance Art Exhibition in 1969 (Fig. 1) and Work 1964 (Lot 523). The artist takes a variety of approaches, exploring horizontal and vertical orientations, showing the phenomenological and physical complexity of a single shape in different settings.
As an extremely rare early work by the artist, Lot 523 clearly displays the artist's original concept which later transformed into 'Apparatus' series and then the 'Collapse' series. Takasaki cut out squares of canvas and pasted them onto a backing of black plywood. The order and repetition of the squares originate from the artist's experience of feeling overwhelmed by rows of computers in everyday life. By not flattening the square pieces of canvases onto the plywood, Takasaki ‘frees’ the corners of each piece, allowing them to subtly curl in the true character of the medium; the effect is a varied and complex visual texture. The order and arrangement of four simple colours of black, dark grey, light grey and white further enhance visual rhythm. The adverse effects of Japan's economic miracle have since given way to myriad other concerns, but Takasaki's art shows us that even in an interconnected and depersonalized world, there are, and have always been, ways for individuals to stamp their mark in life.
Takasaki further pushed the exploration of structure and rhythm to greater lengths through experimentation with the properties of different materials, including high-grade plastic. Apparatus (Lot 524) is a large format work representative of this later series. The piece is composed of individual white squares made of polyester; lacquer is pasted only in the center, allowing the edges to remain exposed. These squares enter the viewer's space and are thus subject to the same environment the viewer occupies; edges warp and curl based on the temperature, air circulation, and humidity the piece is exposed to over time. These subtle variations keep the pieces alive, even as they slowly decay over time. Within the limited vocabulary of monochrome works, Takasaki creates an immense range with works that vary in elements that he can control, such material and grid size, as well as elements he has little control over, such as the way each square curls. While beautifully revealing the characteristics of the raw materials, Takasaki's process is a stark reminder of the artificial barriers between the viewer and artwork, and indeed all elements in society. Apparatus is a significant milestone in Takasaki's artistic development, and forms part of the same collection shown at the Miyagi Museum of Art in Sendai, Japan. Works from the same series are published in exhibition catalogue of Gutai: Splendid Playground organized by The Guggenheim Museum, New York. Takasaki 's repeti tion of a single form calls into question the relationship between form, dimension, size and colour, which can be placed in conversation with minimalist sculptures by Donald Judd. (Fig. 2) A close comparison can also be drawn with the meditative experience one experiences when viewing a mandala.
After graduating in 1949 from the Sculpture Department of Tokyo Fine Arts School (now known as the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), Motonao Takasaki went on to become a member of the Gutai art group in 1966. During this first year, Takasaki's work was included to represent Gutai alongside fellow artists Sadamasa Motonaga, Kazuo Shiraga, and Jiro Yoshihara in the group's first show in the United States. The exhibition as part of the "1st Japan Art Festival" which was held at Union Carbide Building in New York, before traveling to the Gimbel Brothers in Pittsburgh, then to The Art Institute of Chicago, and then finally to the M.H. De Young Museum in San Francisco.
Since the 1950s, Takasaki has been taking a methodical approach to creating art that depends on the environment the pieces occupy. He respects the physical properties of the materials themselves, while making subtle commentary on societal structure and larger political climates.
Takasaki's sensibility regarding structure and repetition of geometric shapes can be found in his works executed in the 1960s, including the work exhibited at the 1st Hiroshima Renaissance Art Exhibition in 1969 (Fig. 1) and Work 1964 (Lot 523). The artist takes a variety of approaches, exploring horizontal and vertical orientations, showing the phenomenological and physical complexity of a single shape in different settings.
As an extremely rare early work by the artist, Lot 523 clearly displays the artist's original concept which later transformed into 'Apparatus' series and then the 'Collapse' series. Takasaki cut out squares of canvas and pasted them onto a backing of black plywood. The order and repetition of the squares originate from the artist's experience of feeling overwhelmed by rows of computers in everyday life. By not flattening the square pieces of canvases onto the plywood, Takasaki ‘frees’ the corners of each piece, allowing them to subtly curl in the true character of the medium; the effect is a varied and complex visual texture. The order and arrangement of four simple colours of black, dark grey, light grey and white further enhance visual rhythm. The adverse effects of Japan's economic miracle have since given way to myriad other concerns, but Takasaki's art shows us that even in an interconnected and depersonalized world, there are, and have always been, ways for individuals to stamp their mark in life.
Takasaki further pushed the exploration of structure and rhythm to greater lengths through experimentation with the properties of different materials, including high-grade plastic. Apparatus (Lot 524) is a large format work representative of this later series. The piece is composed of individual white squares made of polyester; lacquer is pasted only in the center, allowing the edges to remain exposed. These squares enter the viewer's space and are thus subject to the same environment the viewer occupies; edges warp and curl based on the temperature, air circulation, and humidity the piece is exposed to over time. These subtle variations keep the pieces alive, even as they slowly decay over time. Within the limited vocabulary of monochrome works, Takasaki creates an immense range with works that vary in elements that he can control, such material and grid size, as well as elements he has little control over, such as the way each square curls. While beautifully revealing the characteristics of the raw materials, Takasaki's process is a stark reminder of the artificial barriers between the viewer and artwork, and indeed all elements in society. Apparatus is a significant milestone in Takasaki's artistic development, and forms part of the same collection shown at the Miyagi Museum of Art in Sendai, Japan. Works from the same series are published in exhibition catalogue of Gutai: Splendid Playground organized by The Guggenheim Museum, New York. Takasaki 's repeti tion of a single form calls into question the relationship between form, dimension, size and colour, which can be placed in conversation with minimalist sculptures by Donald Judd. (Fig. 2) A close comparison can also be drawn with the meditative experience one experiences when viewing a mandala.