Kazuo Shiraga

Kazuo Shiraga (白髪 一雄, Shiraga Kazuo, August 12, 1924 – April 8, 2008) was a Japanese modern artist who belonged to the Gutai group of avant-garde artists. He was acknowledged internationally only after his death.

Shiraga is said to have seen the viscosity of tube-ready oil paint as "free." This is compared to the paints he was forced to use in painting school, which were thin ink-based paints. Shiraga would experiment by using his hands and fingers with oil paints in his younger years.[1]

In the 1940s he studied Nihonga at the Kyoto City University of Arts. In 1953 he founded the group "Zero Kai" with Akira Kanayama, Atsuko Tanaka and Saburo Murakami which merged with Gutai in 1955.[2] Shiraga created "mud paintings" by using his whole body to leave impressions in wet mud.[3] For over tens years, from 1956 to 1966, his Performance Paintings were largely painted with his feet. Later he was influenced by Frenchman Jean-Jacques Lebel. 1971-72 he lived as a Buddhist monk.

In December 2014 his prime-period 1961 abstract, “Chijikusei Gotenrai,” was sold for 3.25 million euros, about $3.7 million.[4]