photo: SAIKI Taku
Color-Blindness Testing Chart No. 10
| Artist | SHIMIZU Akira |
|---|---|
| Year | 1963 |
| Material/ Technique | oil and collage on canvas |
| Size/ Duration | H167.2 × W134.3cm |
| Copyright Notice | © SHIMIZU Akira |
| Year of acquisition/ donation | 2000（作品購入年月日：2000/09/27） |
| Description | Born in Toyama, Japan in 1936. Lives and works in Saitama. After graduating from Painting course of Kanazawa College of Art in 1958, Shimizu Akira became friends with avant-garde artists of his generation and produced objects, happenings and other works that went far beyond the accepted notions of art. Later, his involvement with HIJIKATA Tatsumi led to his working on stage design, posters and costumes for performances of ‘Butoh.’ The works he made after 1970 – fantasy-like creations comprising cut-up photographs– reflect the landscapes of the Japan Sea coast area where his hometown is located. While Shimizu has been active in a wide range of fields, he has always sought to reconcile the methodology of the avant-garde with more indigenous elements. A piece inspired by the test chart for detecting redgreen color blindness. Red and green circles in various sizes are arranged on a white canvas to form a perfect round that touches the rectangle shape of the canvas. It appears as though they are arranged randomly, but they are in fact arranged to reveal the Arabic number 10 in tones of blue when seen from afar. Studied up close, we can see that there are pasted images of pinups of blond women, as well as images showing the bright and affluent urban life of early 1960s America. Although it has elements of graphic design, the artist’s sarcasm and sense of humor can be perceived from the way he has chosen the gravure images and how he has combined the illusions produced from looking at the chart as well as the design of the color blindness test chart. |
NOTES
This Collection Data page contains the works and materials in the collection of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as of April 1, 2018.
Artists are listed alphabetically by artist’s surname.
Works and materials by the same artists are listed according to the date of the work in principle.
Works whose dates are unidentified are listed at the end of each item. Some works are not listed according to the date of work due to their relations.
The data of works and materials are listed in order of title, production year, material/technique/form, dimensions, donor’s name, copyright holder and credit for photograph.
Dimensions are given by height (H) x width (W) in centimeters for plane work, and height (H) x width (W) x depth (D) in cm for 3-D work. Diameter (Ø) is used for circular work.
For the name of country or city, the name currently used in English is listed in principle.