UNTITLED

Having suspended plastic wrapping filled with coloured water for his presentation in Gutai's first open-air exhibition in 1955, Motonaga (1922-2011) came to arrive at a practice which involved techniques of pouring paint across the canvas. The artist traced his inspiration to the river current, and incorporated patterns of the riverbed born from the precipitation of sand and granite into his paintings. The paints are poured so as to naturally flow along the surface of the slightly tilted canvas, and remain in different places depending on their respective weight. Paints of colours different to that of the determined traces on the screen are poured over and over again in an overlapping manner to affirm the overall form. Executed in 1959, Untitled (Lot 463)is an iconic piece representing this early painting stage. It also marked the heavy use of black colour which particularly emphasizes sense of weight and gravity, on which the artist's painting method and concept highly relied.

Motonaga's stay in the United States in 1966-1967 inspired his stylistic departure to a much simple form and use of vivid colour. The process of simplification further extended to the reduction of paint texture into refined smooth surface with the technique of paint spray. The proportion of form, colour combination, colour gradation, colour contrast on the flat surface of Untitled (Lot 460) and Work (Lot 461) constructed a powerful graphic statement.