Kazuo Shiraga is not the founder of the Gutai group but he is its most dramatic performer. The post-war world seeks a new approach to art. Shiraga is a gymnast. He offers artistic creation by the effect of physical strength.
Shiraga enjoys the happenings, like Yves Klein. In 1955, he cut with his ax some trees painted in his favorite color, an intense red. In 1965, three years after the death of Klein, the Gutai and Zero groups manage to exhibit together.
Shiraga also becomes a sculptor when there is a need to promote the Gutai art. In 1957, a monumental Red Timber summarizes his experiences of performance art.
In 1965, the artist creates a Red Fan that auspiciously welcomes the visitors of the exhibitions. It is a triple fully open concentric fan made in folded tissue paper over a wooden base with an overall size of 151 x 305 x 50 cm. The paper is uniformly painted in crimson.
This minimalist work is close to the creations of the Zero group and of Günther Uecker. In choosing the theme of the fan, Shiraga brings a Buddhist feeling, with altogether the perfect semicircles and the symbol of the evolution of life through the succession of blades.
The Red Fan by Shiraga was one of the star pieces of an exhibition organized in October 2015 by Bonhams in London, which brought together once again Gutai and Zero while adding also Yayoi Kusama. This artwork is now estimated £ 1.5M for sale by Bonhams in London on February 11, lot 33. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house.
SOLD for £ 1.54M including premium
Shiraga enjoys the happenings, like Yves Klein. In 1955, he cut with his ax some trees painted in his favorite color, an intense red. In 1965, three years after the death of Klein, the Gutai and Zero groups manage to exhibit together.
Shiraga also becomes a sculptor when there is a need to promote the Gutai art. In 1957, a monumental Red Timber summarizes his experiences of performance art.
In 1965, the artist creates a Red Fan that auspiciously welcomes the visitors of the exhibitions. It is a triple fully open concentric fan made in folded tissue paper over a wooden base with an overall size of 151 x 305 x 50 cm. The paper is uniformly painted in crimson.
This minimalist work is close to the creations of the Zero group and of Günther Uecker. In choosing the theme of the fan, Shiraga brings a Buddhist feeling, with altogether the perfect semicircles and the symbol of the evolution of life through the succession of blades.
The Red Fan by Shiraga was one of the star pieces of an exhibition organized in October 2015 by Bonhams in London, which brought together once again Gutai and Zero while adding also Yayoi Kusama. This artwork is now estimated £ 1.5M for sale by Bonhams in London on February 11, lot 33. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house.
SOLD for £ 1.54M including premium
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