Mixed media on wood panel

91×72.7 cm. 35 7/8×28 5/8 in.

Signed and located in Kanji and dated on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

Painting with a Mighty Pen
"Kokuta the Madman", True to His Heart

Kokuta Suda was a renowned Japanese painter and calligrapher. He was one of the leading avant-garde abstract artists in Japan, famous for his calligraphic strokes, and his striving to create powerful, and unrestrained paintings. His works have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art Saitama, the Miho Museum in Shiga and more famous institutions.

In the 1950s, the Japanese artist community was very active, trying to break the shackles of tradition. In 1952, Kokuta and his friends founded Genbi (Modern Art Discussion Group), which later became the basis of the Gutai group. Under these circumstances, the 1950s and 1960s were the peak of Kokuta's creative endeavours. His monk-like dedication to his work led him to be known as the "Kokuta the Madman". His works were frequently invited to major international exhibitions, such as the Sao Paulo Art Biennial in 1957, the Premio Lissone International Exhibition in Italy in 1960, and the 1961 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture at the Carnegie Museum of Art in the USA. Untitled is a representative work of his creative use of multiple media during the golden age of art in the 1950s and 1960s.

Embracing the Soul in Gallop

In Untitled, the wild and powerful strokes of the white colours create clouds between the sky and the earth, in which lines of lemon yellow, blue and black are tumbling and rising, like invisible spiritual energy condensing in the air. The calligraphic brushwork of the ink is bold and wild, drawing a field-like composition, in which colourful squares are queuing in an orderly way. In addition, Kokuta did not paint purely on a flat surface, but, like an alchemist, allowed materials to be mixed and formed into a different way of expression that reveals his rich and uninhibited inner world. Here, for example, he adopted a material of natural origin - stone - and embedded minerals on top of ink colours to spontaneously achieve a fusion that almost mimics the natural land. The small stones are like the soil in the earth, linking up to form a black grid laid out in a field, seeing order amidst the storm of calligraphy. This work is just like a spiritual dojo one builds between heaven and earth. No matter how the outside world rises and falls, one can still retain the most precious ease and contentment here!

Price estimate:
HKD 100,000 - 150,000
USD 12,800 - 19,200