TAKESADA MATSUTANI | Propagation 70

signed in English and dated 1970; titled in Japanese and English and dated 1970, Paris on the reverse; signed in English and dated 1970 on the stretcher bar

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

New York, Galerie Richard, Matsutani, Gutai Spirit Forever, March – April 2013, cover and p. 7, illustrated in colour
New York, Galerie Richard, Painting Into Three Dimensions, February 2016

This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some light rub marks in places to the vinyl. Further close inspection reveals some unobtrusive surface irregularities and tiny white paint splatters to the vinyl that appear to be original, as well as few light blue paint splatters to the upper left corner and some very faint red rub marks towards the lower left corner. There are a few small stains and media accretions to the raw canvas in the upper right corner. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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Propagation 70 is a unique piece in Matsutani Takesada’s body of work that straddles two of his two most iconic styles: his early three-dimensional bulbous forms and the beginnings of his later aesthetic of hard-edged shapes. Rendered in translucent hues of gradated ocher, the monochromatic Propagation 70 manifests Matsutani’s profound exploration and celebration of material in its purest and most authentic form. Beginning in the early 1960s, Matsutani began experimenting with vinyl adhesive, creating sensual organic volumes and swelling shapes that were inspired by observing matter through a microscope. Vinyl adhesive quickly became the artist’s signature material, and he developed techniques which involved him exhaling through a straw to inflate globules of glue. The resulting membranal texture and subtly three-dimensional structures constituted a unique aesthetic which earned the artist international acclaim.

In 1963, at the age of 26, Matsutani was invited to join the radical Gutai Art Association and remained with the group until it disbanded in 1972. In 1966, Matsutani won the first prize of the Mainichi Newspaper Franco-Japanese competition and received a grant to study in France. While in Paris, Matsutani joined Stanley William Hayter’s legendary Atelier 17 printmaking studio, and the change in environment deeply inspired his artistic development and reinforced his confidence as an artist. Working in Atelier 17 exposed Matsutani to the hard-edge style, inspiring a shift in his own aesthetic towards flat blocks or straight streaks of colour, as in the present work. Living and working in Europe also prompted Matsutani to reassess his spiritual roots of Shinto and Buddhism, impelling him to work towards an increasingly more personal style where the philosophy of matter and material is linked to notions of time and space, stillness and suspended movement.

Created in 1970, a few years after his move to Paris, Propagation 70 is exemplary of Matsutani’s singular aesthetic grounded in his devout connection with matter and materiality. Minimalistic in style, the work is testament to the artist’s ability to surpass traditional painting conventions and his commitment to the inherent purity and sensuality of matter. Blurring the boundaries between two-dimensional painting and three-dimensional sculpture, and furthermore presenting two of the artist’s trademark visual motifs, Propagation 70 is a stylistically important work from a significant juncture within Matsutani’s oeuvre.