Yoshishige Saito “Untitled”

Author birth and death: 1904 Hirosaki (Aomori) – 2001 Yokohama (Kanagawa)
Year of production: 1961
Technique Material: Oil painting, plywood
Dimensions: 72.6×60.4cm
Signature, date, etc.: Signature and date on the back "Y.SAITO 1961 [Horizontal writing] Yoshishige Saito" [Vertical writing]

Exhibition history: “Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of Modern Art Collection Exhibition + Ishii Collection Exhibition from the University of Tsukuba” Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki October 2007-10, 5 cat. 28.

Literature: Edited by Rintaro Terakado, “Ishii Collection I. Paintings in the University of Tsukuba,” University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Art, 2011, cat. 27.

Collection number: 2005-JO-IS004

Work description:
Yoshishige Saito is an avant-garde artist who represents Japan's postwar art. At the age of 16, he was strongly influenced by the works of Russian Futurism, and after questioning the preconceived notions of painting, he consistently pursued an ``anti-painting'' approach, even after World War II. From the 1960s, he began creating works that emphasized the shadows and gaps created by unevenness, using drills and layered plywood.His attitude of focusing on the expressive power of the material itself, ignoring the feelings of the creator, and emphasizing the process and act of creation itself, had a great influence on other artists.In this work as well, Saito uses a drill that does not always move according to his will to carve holes and grooves in the plywood surface, and also leaves a thick brushstroke in the center.What is astounding to the viewer, combined with the crimson color, is the power asserted by the ``thing'' itself as a ``trace of an action.''