GUTAI
1954 - 1972
"...we find a contemporary beauty in the art and architecture of the past ravaged by the passage of time or natural disasters."
- Jirô Yoshihara, Gutai Manifesto, 1956
Movement Void of Restrictions
In early August of 1945 the United States of America conducted the heinous bombing of two Japanese cities. Hiroshima then Nagasaki disintegrated into radioactive dust. The annihilative weapons made no distinction between fascist soldiers or civilians. The estimated death tolls for Hiroshima and Nagasaki combine to a sickening 225,000 human lives lost. Countless more were left injured and disfigured physically and psychologically. The raging fires that swallowed the cities consumed countless bodies that would never be counted, leaving the death toll unquestionably lacking in number. Hopelessness fell over Japan in an ash cloud of human remains.
In testimony to this hopelessness a small group of Japanese artists banded together in 1954. Led by Shozo Shimamoto and Jiro Yoshihara, these artists formed the Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai (or Gutai Art Association.) Coming from the Japanese words ‘gu’ (meaning tool) and ‘tai’ (meaning body), Gutai suggests concreteness or embodiment. They worked hard to publish their Journal, knowing their theatrical approach to art would need to be documented in order to resonate with the rest of the world. The artists strived to free the spirit of Japan by creating unconventional art by any means necessary and challenging traditional notions of art by using mediums as strange as mud, glue or sound. They used their entire bodies as applicators of expression, freeing themselves of stipulation.
Gutai's abstract exhibitions expanded the idea of the gallery, and often took place in parks, on stage, or even in the sky. Their goal was to make life and art indistinguishable from one another and to evoke art out of ordinary materials and activities. These process driven works spoke clearly to artists in the west seeking universal truth. Out of horrendous turmoil, the Gutai effectively connected themselves to spectators and fellow artists around the world.
Jiro Yoshihara Untitled 1950 Though predating the movement and with the aftermath of World War II still fresh in Japanese life, this work by Jiro Yoshihara shows the underpinnings of design in minimalistic color and form. Strong blues and darkness fill the canvas alluding to disaster and relief.
Shozo Shimamoto Holes 1954 Newspaper, Glue, Wood, Paint Violence and symmetry define this work born of a need to create without the means to buy material. This "happy accident" spawned a movement and showed that art was not about the material but the struggle and process inspiring an entire movement.
George Segal The Diner 1946-1966 Mixed Sculpture Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Segal made molds using live models cast from plaster covered bandages. Once dry, the molds were cut open and resealed. Influenced by film noir, Segal then set his figures in environmental scenes, complete with authentic props. Comparable to Edward Hopper's work, Segal's thought provoking pieces disturb complacency and inspire a feeling of compassion for the human condition.
Atsuko Tanaka Work (Bell) April 1975 Enamel paint on Vinyl Tanaka was inspired by the post World War II technological development occurring in Japan, using lines and circles that radiate on this white canvas of vinyl to reflect the wires and bulbs of machinery, like the lightbulbs in her earlier Electrical Dress, but also to pay homage to her Japanese heritage, of which traditionally uses repeating patterns and symbols.
Yamazaki Tsuruko Red Cube Performance/Installation at Outdoor Gutai Art Exhibition 1956 Osaka, Japan Red Cube was a part of the Outdoor Gutai Art Exhibition in the summer of 1956. Tsuruko incorporated the audience as a part of his work by illuminating a red vinyl cube and mirror and had the audience member's silhouettes reflect onto the picture plane. This piece was one that expanded the idea of the audience as part of the creative community. Click link below for audio description
Yamazaki Tsuruko Red Performance/Installation 1956 - Present Traveling Exhibit Red is the recreation of the first 1956 installation. Tsuruko incorporated the audience as a part of his work by illuminating a red vinyl cube and mirror and had the audience member's silhouettes reflect onto the picture plane. This piece was one that expanded the idea of the audience as part of the creative community.
Shimamoto Shōzō Hurling Glass Bottles 1956 Shozo’s glass bottle approach became one of his most prolific techniques. Paving the way for action painting, Shozo stays true to Gutai style by combing not only paint and performance, but sound as well. The sound of crashing bottles adds a new dimension to this piece that probably is not taken into account through photographs. Although abstract and expressionistic, the act is bold enough to conjure many aggressive conclusions of meaning.
Kazuo Shiraga Challenging Mud 1955 Performance Tokyo, Japan Fully immersing himself with his art, he fills the gap between artist and art. His body is not only the tool delivering art, but also a work of art himself. A performance that has made itself a manifestation of being in the moment. The art is not the aftermath being presented in a museum but the liveliness of its process.
Atsuko Tanaka Electric Dress 1956 Performance Museum of Art, Takamatsu. What was fashioned after a Kimono, transformed into a radical break from tradition. The fusing of the harshness of modern electricity with the elegance of a kimono speaks that society is a fluid in flux, reevaluating its traditions and questioning them but never forgetting the underlying base. Colorful lights give the sense of lightheartedness, but not in it’s message.
Murakami Saburo Laceration of Paper 1955 Performance Saburo’s performance is simple and short but loud in substance and thought. He tears through 40 walls of paper. People applaud, celebrating his repositioning of sides which may mirror back to an idea of post war life in Japan after WWII. Regardless of specific interpretations, Saburo demonstrates the ease of moving forward with the illusion of obstacles in the way.
Atsuko Tanaka Diagram of Performance Art Event A common theme in all of Tanaka's work was the "The Art of Connecting". Here she takes an overhead view of a performance art piece and shows movement as if it were a technological diagram. Many other works in this series explore various social encounters all represented by dots and lines.
Murakami Saburo
Exit
Performance
1994
Saburo’s performance is simple and short but loud in substance and thought. He walks through an exit, tearing through paper covering the doorway. People applaud, celebrating his repositioning of sides which may mirror back to an idea of post war life in Japan after WWII. Regardless of specific interpretations, Saburo demonstrates the ease of moving forward with the illusion of obstacles in the way.
Norio Imai
On the Table
February 13, 2014.
Cloth, white paint, table.
"Perspective in White" exhibition opening performance.
This performance, akin to Norio Imai’s body of work, is characterized by the interdependence between interior and exterior space. The dancer flows spectrally within the perimeter of the tabletop. Above the table a projection serves as a window to a new perspective. By covering the performer in cloth the recognizable human form is rendered unfamiliar. In exploring both sides of the picture plane, the artist asks for the spectators to appreciate the strangeness of shape.
Atsuko Tanaka
The Art of Connecting
(video in Spanish, but Atsuko speaks in English at 00:58)
Atsuko Tanaka manages to still be relevant even in the 21st century. Her avant-garde art stimulates the senses, using colors, lights, sounds in order to place you in a sensory wonderland. She experiments with sound as a means to feel, letting the vibrations fill the room. The colors swirl and spin and blink, using modern technology to transport you into the motherboard of your mind, rewiring your perception, bringing technology and it's interaction with medium as the art itself.
Gutai: Highlights from the Exhibition
These highlights from the exhibition only serves to exemplify the unity and variety that the Gutai movement held. They were innovative, using multiple mediums, tearing down barriers between tradition and experimentation, and invented new forms of installations, like open air. The use of simple shapes, performance art, and separation of artist and medium. The method of creating the art was much more important than the actual product, leading to incredible, once in a lifetime performances that define the textbook example of performance and avant-garde art.
Atsuko Tanaka
Electric Dress
1956
Performance
Reconstruction 1986 at Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Takamatsu.
What was fashioned after a Kimono, transformed into a radical break from tradition. The fusing of the harshness of modern electricity with the elegance of a kimono speaks that society is a fluid in flux, reevaluating its traditions and questioning them but never forgetting the underlying base. Colorful lights give the sense of lightheartedness, but not in it’s message.