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The Second (Tenkosei-Roshi: A Hero of a Chinese Romance)

SHIRAGA Kazuo

1962

Kazuo Shiraga, an important member of the "GUTAI" group, won international recognition for his art early in his career. He specialized in Nihon-ga (Japanese-style painting) as a student, but after graduation turned to works in oil. He made this decision because he felt that using only mineral pigment limited his expression and also found oil paint's lush colors, and especially its fluid look, attractive. To take advantage of the dynamic fluidity of oil paint, Shiraga initially used a palette knife to apply the colors, but later he used his bare hands, and then finally, in 1954, his bare feet. It was the birth of the so-called "foot painting." He would spread a huge canvas on the floor and, hanging onto a rope attached to the ceiling, let his feet glide on the paint. In this way, the act of painting leaves its trace in a visible form on the canvas. For this fact, his painting has been considered representative work of action painting in Japan. After the GUTAI group disbanded, most of its former members embarked upon a search for the style of new expressions, but Shiraga "never doubted that action painting was his form of expression" and continued to work in this style. As the title of this painting, the artist chose the name of a hero from his favorite Chinese novel，"Water Margin".