Takesada MATSUTANI (1937)

Parallel 11-5, 2000 Mixed media on canvas pasted on panel, signed, titled, dated and located Paris on the back 53 x 45.5 cm Provenance: Private collection, European Exhibition: Matsutani, November-December 2004, Galerie États d'Art, Paris Takesada Matsutani is a Japanese artist born in Osaka in 1937. He has been active in France since 1966. His works are represented in numerous public and private collections in Japan, Europe and the United States. After the dissolution of the Gutai group in 1972, Matsutani embarked on a new set of radical but coherent works, inspired by his experience at Atelier 17. True to his Gutai roots, he strove to identify and convey the essential character of vinyl glue and graphite, which would become his signature materials. Matsutani began creating vast expanses of metallic black graphite on wall-sized sheets of paper, constructed with meticulous individual strokes. This ritualistic manner presents a temporal record of his gestures, while recalling his early artistic beginnings in Japan, and has been translated into an artistic language of his own.