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Lot Essay
Maekawa Tsuyoshi joined Gutai in 1962, at the start of the movement's "second phase" and the same year as the establishment of the Gutai Pinacotheca in Osaka. An exhibition space which became an important stop on the travel itineraries of artists, curators and critics, its establishment dramatically transformed the way in which Gutai interacted with an international audience.
Maekawa's earlier works from the 1960s, were focused on exploring the physicality of materials and their inherent beauty. He made paintings with oils on burlap, rolling and pleating them to produce grooves with a strong sense of texture and beauty of line. Through the meticulous arrangement of the artist, the cloth fibres reveal themselves to convey a sense of primitive dynamic rhythm.
Compared with the relatively rough feel and primitivism of his earlier works, Maekawa's more recent work shows finer texturing, and the heavy outlines of his earlier work gradually evolved into finer lines. This 1978 work typifies this later style; using only white, the canvas has been bunched forming a simple raised line, however the texture of the material is expertly used, create a feeling of reduction and refinement.
For a 1981 work in the collection of The National Museum of Art, Osaka, titled Yoko [Lateral], go to:
https://search.artmuseums.go.jp/search_e/records.php?sakuhin=50167
Maekawa's earlier works from the 1960s, were focused on exploring the physicality of materials and their inherent beauty. He made paintings with oils on burlap, rolling and pleating them to produce grooves with a strong sense of texture and beauty of line. Through the meticulous arrangement of the artist, the cloth fibres reveal themselves to convey a sense of primitive dynamic rhythm.
Compared with the relatively rough feel and primitivism of his earlier works, Maekawa's more recent work shows finer texturing, and the heavy outlines of his earlier work gradually evolved into finer lines. This 1978 work typifies this later style; using only white, the canvas has been bunched forming a simple raised line, however the texture of the material is expertly used, create a feeling of reduction and refinement.
For a 1981 work in the collection of The National Museum of Art, Osaka, titled Yoko [Lateral], go to:
https://search.artmuseums.go.jp/search_e/records.php?sakuhin=50167