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Kazuo Shiraga — "In front of me lay an austere road to originality. Run forward, I thought, run and run, it won’t matter if I fall down... Let me do it with my hands, with my fingers. Then, as I ran, thinking that I was moving forward, it occurred to me: Why not feet? Why don’t I paint with my feet?"  Kazuo Shiraga, 1955
Kazuo Shiraga

"In front of me lay an austere road to originality. Run forward, I thought, run and run, it won’t matter if I fall down... Let me do it with my hands, with my fingers. Then, as I ran, thinking that I was moving forward, it occurred to me: Why not feet? Why don’t I paint with my feet?" Kazuo Shiraga, 1955

Kazuo Shiraga's monumental canvas erupts in a visceral explosion of thickly applied oil paint, its turbulent surface bearing the physical traces of the artist's body as he swung from a suspended rope and dragged his bare feet through the pigment below. Deep crimson, black, and earthy tones churn and collide across the composition, recording the gestural violence and raw energy of Shiraga's radical performance. The work stands as a defiant rejection of traditional mark-making, transforming the act of painting into a primal, full-bodied struggle between the artist and his medium.

Medium
oil on canvas

🔨 Auction Lot

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

November 10, 2015

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About this work

Kazuo Shiraga, "In front of me lay an austere road to originality. Run forward, I thought, run and run, it won’t matter if I fall down... Let me do it with my hands, with my fingers. Then, as I ran, thinking that I was moving forward, it occurred to me: Why not feet? Why don’t I paint with my feet?" Kazuo Shiraga, 1955

Kazuo Shiraga's monumental canvas erupts in a visceral explosion of thickly applied oil paint, its turbulent surface bearing the physical traces of the artist's body as he swung from a suspended rope and dragged his bare feet through the pigment below. Deep crimson, black, and earthy tones churn and collide across the composition, recording the gestural violence and raw energy of Shiraga's radical performance. The work stands as a defiant rejection of traditional mark-making, transforming the act of painting into a primal, full-bodied struggle between the artist and his medium.

Medium
oil on canvas
Seen at
Phillips, New York, London, Hong Kong

Related themes

Post-War Era, Mid-Twentieth Century, Large Format Canvas, Dynamic Gestural Style, Postwar Japanese Art, Dark Earthy Tones, Energetic Mood, Bold Vivid Colors, Japanese Male Artist, Intense Energetic Mood, Gutai Movement, Abstract Expressionism, Action Painting, Gestural Abstraction, Energetic Turbulent Mood, Physical Process Art, Postwar Era, Oil on Canvas, Bold Dynamic Brushwork

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Collected by

Sebastián Naranjo