| biography | Shiraga Kazuo is known as a central figure in the Gutai Art Association, a driving force of avant-garde art in postwar Japan. In 1954 Shiraga developed his distinctive “foot painting” technique, manipulating the paint with his feet while suspended from a rope over supports laid on the floor, making bodily movement itself the defining element of the painting. As an attempt to return to the very origins of the act of production, his approach overturned conventional views of art. Adhering to radical art-making principles even after the Gutai Art Association disbanded, Shiraga’s works convey an overwhelming sense of energy, as if the entirety of human existence were being expended within the interplay of space, time, matter, and motion. They simultaneously celebrate the material appeal of oil painting: dripping, bleeding, and the viscosity, fluidity, and robustness of the medium. The explorations therein encompass original ideas that raise new questions about human sensation and faculties, and religious spirituality. (FO) |
