Kanryu

artist	白髪一雄　Shiraga Kazuo
date	1973
materials	oil on canvas
size	112.0×145.0cm
commentary	In the early 1970s Shiraga Kazuo immersed himself in Esoteric Buddhism, or Mikkyo, whose teachings hold that enlightenment can be achieved in this very body through the power of sensations and images—an idea closely aligned with Shiraga’s emphasis on physicality and the role of the senses within his practice. During this period he turned from conventional oils to alkyd resin-based paints. With their distinctive slickness and a smooth, even texture, alkyds allowed him to explore a more spiritual, less material approach to expression, marking a shift from his earlier focus on the physical qualities of paint. At the same time, Shiraga began tracing fluid trajectories across the canvas with a squeegee, introducing a new sense of continuity and flow. This gave rise to a visual language charged with an intensified, almost ecstatic spirituality, distinct in tone from his earlier work. “Kanryu” offers a particularly lucid example of these developments. (FO)
photo	早川宏一　Hayakawa Koichi

artist	Shiraga Kazuo
born	1924
died	2008
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)

白髪一雄