SHIMAMOTO, SHOZO

Shozo Shimamoto (January 22, 1928 Osaka, Japan – January 25, 2013 Italy) was an artist and co-founder of the avant garde group Gutai.

In 1947 Shozo Shimamoto attends for the fist time in the studio of Jiro Yoshihara where he produces his first “hole” works. At the same time, he studied at Kansai Gakuin University, where he graduated in 1950.

In 1954, Shozo Shimamoto, together with his teacher, Yoshihara and his other students, such as Murakami Saburo and Shiraga Kazuo, found the “Gutai” group, one of the most important movements of post-war abstraction. The name GUTAI was Shimamotos suggestion.

Shozo Shimamoto influences the “Gutai” movement with his experimental, avant-garde works, which are to be placed in the context of action painting and happening and also have a lasting effect on the art of the West.

As early as 1956, he laid bags or bottles filled with paint for the first time on the ground and destroyed them with gunshots or stone throws, in order to obtain “random images” of an almost original force.
Works are also created by the artist pouring paint from a flying helicopter onto large canvases.
With these ideas he is a precursor of Fluxus.

Shozo Shimamoto is considered one of the most important artists of the post-war era.