Kazuo Shiraga was born in 1924 in Amagasaki, Japan. Shiraga attended the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting and the City Art Centre of Osaka, familiarizing himself with both traditional Japanese painting and Western oil painting. Shiraga cofounded the experimental Zero Society (Zero-kai) in 1952 with Saburō Murakami, Atsuko Tanaka, and Akira Kanayama. He began a series of signature works in 1954, for which he suspended himself on a rope above canvas, manipulating the paint with his feet. In 1955, he joined the Gutai collective, founded the previous year by Shozo Shimamoto and Jiro Yoshihara. That year, he performed Challenging Mud, one of his best known works, as well as Red Logs (Please Come In). Work by Shiraga and other members of the Gutai group was exhibited at Martha Jackson Gallery in New York in 1958, and was generally understood as being derivative of Abstract Expressionism, in a misreading the group would strive to clarify. Japan’s Expo ’70 hosted the last major public presentation of Gutai work before the collective was dissolved in 1972. Shiraga became a Buddhist monk in 1971, training at the Tendai-sect temple Enryakuji on Mount Hiei; he would resume painting the following year after the disbanding of Gutai. In 1998, Paul Schimmel organized Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-1979 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Out of Actions was arguably the first major museum exhibition exploring the complex dynamics of postwar artwork involving action and performance, and work by the Gutai group was displayed prominently at the entrance. Schimmel is also responsible for organizing Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949-1962, an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2012-13) which traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2013), and included work by Shiraga and other artists affiliated with Gutai. In 2013, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presented Gutai: Splendid Playground, a retrospective of the Gutai Art Association, including two generations of Gutai production and featuring work by Shiraga. Also in 2013, the San Francisco Art Institute presented Experimental Exhibition of Modern Art to Challenge the Mid-Winter Burning Sun: Gutai Historical Survey and Contemporary Response, the first West Coast survey exhibition of Gutai. In 2015, the Dallas Museum of Art presented Between Action and the Unknown: The Art of Kazuo Shiraga and Sadamasa Motonaga, pairing Shiraga with Motonaga, another experimental painter from the Gutai group.

 

Please inquire for available works: info@nullevergoldprojects.com

CV

 
 

Exhibitions with Ever Gold [Projects]:

Grinding
Mario Ayala, Petra Collins, Petra Cortright, Oscar Murillo, Kour Pour, Sterling Ruby, Tom Sachs, Kazuo Shiraga, and Takis
September 9 – October 21, 2017

Kazuo Shiraga and Kour Pour
Earthquakes and the Mid Winter Burning Sun
January 10 – March 18, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KAZUO SHIRAGA

Born 1924, Amagasaki, Japan
Died 2008, Amagasaki, Japan

 

 

Education

1948
Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting (Kyoto, Japan)

 

 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2017
Dominique Lévy Gallery (London, England)

2015
Mnuchin Gallery (New York, NY)

2014
Axel Vervoordt Gallery (Hong Kong)

2012
Axel Vervoordt Gallery (Antwerp, Belgium)

2009
Kazuo Shiraga: Painting Born Out of Fighting at Azumino Municipal Museum of Modern Art (Toyoshina, Japan); also traveled to: Amagasaki Cultural Center (Amagasaki, Japan); Yokosuka Museum of Art (Yokosuka, Japan); Hekinan Museum of Contemporary Art (Hekinan, Japan)
Kazuo Shiraga: Six Decades at McCaffrey Fine Art (New York, NY)

2007
Kazuo Shiraga: Paintings and Watercolours 1954-2007 at Annely Juda Fine Art (London, England)

2004
Kazuo Shiraga zum 80. Geburtstag – Bilder at Galerie Georg Nothelfer (Berlin, Germany)

2001
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)
Kazuo Shiraga: Paintings and Watercolours at Annely Juda Fine Art (London, England)

2000
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)

1997
Gallery Apa (Nagoya, Japan)

1995
Amagasakishinkitashin Office (Osaka, Japan)

1994
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)

1992
Galerie Georg Nothelfer (Berlin, Germany)
Galerie Stadler (Paris, France)

1991
Gallery Shirakawa (Kyoto, Japan)
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)

1990
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Gallery Kasahara (Osaka, Japan)

1989
Amagasaki Cultural Centre, Amagasaki
Gallery Kuranuki (Osaka, Japan)

1988
Gallery Haku (Osaka, Japan)
Galerie Georg Nothelfer (Berlin, Germany)

1987
Galleria Milano (Milan, Italy)

1986
Galerie Stadler (Paris, France)

1985
Gallery Re-Art (Kyoto, Japan)
The Contemporary Art Gallery, Seibu Department Store (Tokyo, Japan)
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)

1984
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)

1982
Gallery Haku (Osaka, Japan)

1981
Gendaito Centre Mini-Pinacotheca (Miyazaki, Japan)

1980
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)

1979
Tor Road Gallery (Kobe, Japan)

1978
Tor Road Gallery (Kobe, Japan)
Miyako Gallery (Osaka, Japan)

1976
Asahi Gallery (Kyoto, Japan)
Shinanobashi Gallery (Osaka, Japan)
Miyako Gallery (Osaka, Japan)

1975
Kintetsu Department Store (Osaka, Japan)

1974
Tobi Gallery (Osaka, Japan)
Shinanobashi Gallery (Osaka, Japan)
Fujibi Gallery (Osaka, Japan)

1973
Shinanobashi Gallery (Osaka, Japan)
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)

1964
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)

1962
Galerie Stadler (Paris, France)
International Centre of Aesthetic Research, Galleria Notizie (Turin, Italy)
Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Gutai Pinacotheca (Osaka, Japan)

 

 

Group Exhibitions

2017
Grinding at Ever Gold [Projects] (San Francisco, CA)
Earthquakes and the Mid Winter Burning Sun at Ever Gold [Projects] (San Francisco, CA)

2015
Body and Matter: The Art of Kazuo Shiraga and Satoru Hoshino at Dominique Lévy Gallery (New York, NY)
Between Action and the Unknown: The Art of Kazuo Shiraga and Sadamasa Motonaga at Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX)
Proportio at Palazzo Fortuny (Venice, Italy)

2013
Middlegate Geel ’13 at CC De Werft (Geel, Belgium)
Présence/Absence at Espace Le Majorat, Villeneuve-Tolosane
Clues of Asia. Asian Contemporary Art from Long Collection at The Long Museum (Shanghai, China)
Gutai: Splendid Playground at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York)

2012
Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde at Museum of Modern Art (New York)
Destroy the Picture, Painting the Void, 1949-1962 at Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, CA)
After Gutai at McCaffrey Fine Art (New York)
Gutai: The Spirit of an Era at National Art Center (Tokyo, Japan)
Explosion! Painting as Action at Moderna Museet (Stockholm, SwedeN); also traveled to: Fundació Joan Miró (Barcelona, Spain)
A Visual Essay on Gutai at Hauser & Wirth Gallery (New York)

2008
ACADEMIA: Qui es-tu? at Chapelle de l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (Paris, France)

2007
ARTEMPO at Palazzo Fortuny (Venice, Italy)

2006
ZERO International Künstler-Avantgarde der 50/60er Jahre at Museum Kunst Palast (Düsseldorf, Germany); also traveled to: Musée d’Art Moderne (Saint-Etienne, France)

2005
Big Bang. Destruction et création dans l’art de 20é siècle at Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France)

2004
Resounding Spirit: Japanese Contemporary Art of the 1960s at Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA)
Retrospective Exhibition of Gutai at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)

2003
Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai (Concrete Art Association) at Gallery ART U (Osaka, Japan)
The Contemplation of Space at Chelsea Art Museum (New York, NY)

2001
Kazuo Shiraga – Fred Thieler – Jan Voss at Galerie Nothelfer (Berlin, Germany)

2000
Memorial of Earthquake Disaster at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)
Guten Morgen Malerei at Kunstverein Augsburg (Augsburg, Germany)

1999
The Movement of 20th Century in Art at Fukuoka City Art Museum (Fukuoka, Japan)
Gutai at Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume (Paris, France)

1998
Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-79 at Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, CA); also traveled to Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst (Vienna, Austria); Museu d’Art Contemporani, (Barcelona, Spain); and Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Picaf -2nd International Contemporary Art Festival Pusan, Metropolitan Art Museum (Busan, South Korea)

1996
Charity Auction for Honsin Disaster at Seibu Shinjuku PePe Salon (Tokyo, Japan)
Memory of Friends: Waichi Tsutoka and Shigeru Izumi at Keihan Gallery (Moriguchi, Japan)
Art on 1953, After the War at Meguro Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
The Yomamura Collection at Chiba City Museum (Chiba, Japan)
L’Informe: mode d’emploi (Formless: A User’s Guide) at Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France)

1995
Contemporary Calligraphy at Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)

1994
Japanese Art After 1945: Scream Against the Sky at Yokohama Art Museum (Yokohama, Japan); also traveled to: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, NY) and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA)

1993
Gutai II 1959-1965 at Ashiya Municipal Art Museum (Ashiya, Japan)
XLV Venice Biennale (Venice, Italy)
The Gutai Group 1955/56 at Penrose Institute (Tokyo, Japan)

1992
Gutai I 1954-1958 at Ashiya Municipal Art Museum (Ashiya, Japan)
Reconstructed Gutai Field Exhibition at Ashiya Park (Ashiya, Japan)
Blue Wave at Meguro Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)

1991
Soga at Grand Palais (Paris, France)
Painting of the Showa Period Post-War at Himeji Municipal Art Museum (Himeji, Japan)
Gutai at Darmstadt Museum (Darmstadt, Germany)
Line in Contemporary Art at Saitama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Saitama, Japan)
Movement of Contemporary Prints at Ashiya Municipal Art Museum (Ashiya, Japan)

1990
Gutai: Unfinished Avant-garde Group at Shoto Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Stream of Contemporary Art at Toyama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Toyama, Japan)
Giappone all’avanguardia – Il Gruppo Gutai negli anni Cinquento at The National Museum of Modern Art (Rome, Italy)

1989
The Visionary Yamamura Collection, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)
Shiga, The Masterpieces of Niigata Prefectural Art Museum at Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Wakayama, Japan)
Japan and Australia Interchange Exhibition at Tottori Prefectural Museum (Tottori, Japan)

1988
Art Kite Show, traveled to nine Japanese museums and internationally
Locus of Feet 1988 at Yurakucho Seibu Art Forum (Tokyo, Japan); also traveled to: Tsukashin Hall (Amagasaki, Japan); World Children’s Art Museum (Okazaki, Japan); Fukuyama Art Museum (Fukuyama, Japan) and Oita Prefectural Art Hall (Oita, Japan)
Expression of Movement at Saitama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Saitama, Japan)
Movement of Japanese Contemporary Art at Toyama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Toyama, Japan)

1987
Japan Art Vivant at Centre de la Vieille Charité (Marseille, France)

1986
Le Japon des Avant-Gardes 1910-70 at Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France)

1985
Artists in Hyogo at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)
Human Documenta ’84/85 at Tokyo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
The Society for Research for the Yamamura Collection at National Museum of Modern Art (Osaka, Japan)
Jiro Yoshihara and Gutai at Ashiya Citizen Centre (Ashiya, Japan)
Gutai and Cobra at National Museum of Modern Art (Osaka, Japan)
40 Years of Contemporary Art at Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Japanese Contemporary Paintings at National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi, India)
Reconstructions: Avant-Garde Art in Japan 1945-65 at Museum of Modern Art (Oxford, England); also traveled to: Fruitmarket Gallery (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Action and Emotion, Paintings of the 50s at National Museum of Art (Osaka, Japan)
Grupo Gutai-Pintura y Acción at Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo (Madrid, Spain)
Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition at Taipei City Art Museum (Taipei, Taiwan)
Japanese Art Today at Mandeville Gallery, University of California (San Diego, CA)
The Ohara Museum Collection, Tsukashin Hall (Osaka, Japan)
Today’s Black and White at Saitama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Saitama, Japan)

1984
Contemporary Art through the 20 Years at Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Gunma, Japan)
Sadamasa Motonaga and Kazuo Shiraga at Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Wakayama, Japan)
Contemporary Art by Artists in Kansai 1950-1970, Seibu Hall (Yao, Japan)
Dada in Japan: japanische Avantgarde 1920-1970 at Kunstmuseum (Düsseldorf, Germany)

1982
Panorama of Japanese Contemporary Paintings at Toyama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Toyama, Japan)
View of 30 Japanese Contemporary Paintings after the War at Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, (Hiroshima, Japan)
Space Adesso, Ashiya (with Jiro Yoshihara)

1981
Contemporary Art at Nara Prefectural Art Museum (Nara, Japan)
The 1950s: Gloom and Shafts of Light at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
The Art of Today’s Japan at Miyagi Museum of Art (Sendai, Japan)
1960s – Decade of Change in Contemporary Japanese Art at The National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo, Japan); also traveled to: The National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto, Japan)

1980
Japanese Modern Art – 20 Years Post War at Kyoto City Art Museum (Kyoto, Japan)

1979
Jiro Yoshihara and Current Aspects of Gutai at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)

1977
The Japanese Modern Art at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)

1976
18 Years of Activity of the Gutai Group at National Museum of Art (Osaka, Japan)

1975
4 Abstract Painters at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)

1970
Sekihi 70 at Expo ’70 (Osaka, Japan)

1966
17th Selected Master Pieces at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi (Tokyo, Japan)

1965
Groupe Gutai at Galerie Stadler (Paris, France)
8th Japan International Art Exhibition at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
16th Gutai Exhibition at Keio Department Store (Tokyo, Japan)
The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture at Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY); also traveled to: Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA)
Nul at Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

1963
14th Selected Master Pieces at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi (Tokyo, Japan)
Movement of the Contemporary Paintings at The National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto, Japan)
1er Salon International de Galeries Pilotes Lausannes at Musée Cantonel des Beaux Arts (Lausanne, France)
Exposition d’art modern at Grand Palais (Paris, France)

1962
Salon de Tokyo at Isetan Department Store (Tokyo, Japan)
5th Exhibition of Japanese Contemporary Art at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)

1961
Continuité et Avant-garde au Japon at International Centre of Aesthetic Research (Turin, Italy)
Experimental Art Today at The National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo, Japan)

1960
4th Exhibition of Japanese Contemporary Art at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)

1959
XI Premio Lissone (Lissone, Italy)
Métamorphisme at Galerie Stadler (Paris, France)

1958
International Art of a New Era: ‘Informel’ and Gutai at Takashimaya Department Store (Osaka, Japan)

1957
First Art Show of Gutai on Stage at Sankei Kaikan Hall (Osaka, Japan); also traveled to: Sankei Centre (Tokyo, Japan)
International Exhibition of Contemporary Art at Bridgestone Museum (Tokyo, Japan)

1956
Second Gutai Art Exhibition at Ohara Hall (Tokyo, Japan)

1955
First Gutai Exhibition at Ohara Hall (Tokyo, Japan)
Experimental Outdoor Modern Art Exhibition to Challenge the Burning Midday Sun at Ashiya Park (Ashiya, Japan)

1954
Hankyu Department Store (Osaka, Japan) (with Saburo Murakami)

 

 

Awards

2002
Osaka Art Prize

1999
Distinguished Service Medal for Culture

1987
Hyogo Prefectural Cultural Prize for Excellence

1965
Amagasaki Citizen’s Cultural Prize

 

 

Public Collections

Les Abattoirs, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Toulouse et Midi-Pyrénées Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, (Nagoya, Japan)
Amagasaki Cultural Center (Amagasaki, Japan)
Aomori Museum of Art (Aomori, Japan)
Asago Art Village (Asago, Japan)
Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, Ashiya Bridgestone Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain Midi-Pyrénées, Labège Chiba City Museum of Art (Chiba, Japan)
Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX)
Enryakuji Kaikan (Ōtsu, Japan)
Fukuyama Museum of Art, Fukuyama Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Himeji City Museum of Art (Himej, Japan)
Hiroshima City Museum of Art (Hiroshima, Japan)
Honkōji Temple (Amagasaki, Japan)
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art (Kobe, Japan)
Iwaki City Art Museum (Iwaki, Japan)
The Kagawa Museum (Takamatsu, Japan)
Kisoji Art Museum (Agematsu, Japan)
Kita Modern Art Museum (Nara, Japan)
Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (Kitakyushu, Japan)
Komagata Jūkichi Museum of Art (Nagaoka, Japan)
Kōsetsuin Temple, Kyoto Kure Municipal Museum of Art (Kure, Japan)
Meguro Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Mie Prefectural Art Museum (Tsu, Japan)
The Miyagi Museum of Art (Sendai, Japan)
Musée Cantini (Marseille, France)
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France)
Museum and Archives, Kyoto Institute of Technology (Kyoto, Japan)
Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, Japan)
The Museum of Art Ehime (Matsuyama, Japan)
Museum of Fine Arts (Gifu, Japan)
The Museum of Art (Ibaraki, Japan)
The Museum of Art (Kochi, Japan)
The Museum of Modern Art (Saitama, Japan)
The Museum of Modern Art (Shiga, Japan)
The Museum of Modern Art (Toyoama, Japan)
The Museum of Modern Art (Wakayama, Japan)
Nara Prefectural Museum of Art (Nara, Japan)
The National Museum of Art (Osaka, Japan)
The National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto, Japan)
The National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Nerima Art Museum, Tokyo Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art/The Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum (Nagaoka, Japan)
The Office of Tendaishū (Otsu, Japan)
Ohara Museum of Art (Kurashiki, Japan)
Oita Museum of Art (Oita, Japan)
Osaka City Museum of Modern Art (Osaka, Japan)
Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art (Shizuoka, Japan)
Takamatsu City Museum of Art (Takamatsu, Japan)
Tanabe City Museum of Art (Matsue, Japan)
Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya Tokyo Municipal Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN)
The Warehouse (Dallas, TX)
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
Yokosuka Museum of Art (Yokosuka, Japan)