Shozo Shimamoto, Samurai acrobat of the sight 1950-2008

curated by Achille Bonito Oliva
ABC-ARTE Srl, 2008
Standard bilingual edition
Shozo Shimamoto, Samurai acrobat of the sight 1950-2008: curated by Achille Bonito Oliva
Publisher: Skira Editore S.p.A.
Dimensions: 28 x 24 cm - 11 1/8 x 9 1/2 In
Pages: 143
ISBN: 885720040X
€ 38.00
Collector Edition
Shozo Shimamoto, Samurai acrobat of the sight 1950-2008: curated by Achille Bonito Oliva
Publisher: Skira Editore S.p.A.
Dimensions: 28 x 24 cm - 11 1/8 x 9 1/2 In
Pages: 143
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People usually think that colors and paintbrushes are necessary to paint.. ..in spite of that, their relationship is not so pacific and quiet.

The catalogue published by Skira collects, over visual devices from Shimamoto, reviews by Achille Bonito Oliva and Lorenzo Mango and extracts by Shimamoto himself.
The catalogue runs through again artist's excursus either throughout historical images from fifties, or italian and english drafts including a meticulous autobiography.
So we go from holes to “flying-bottles-works”, feet paintings and en plein air expositions by Gutai, finally arriving to wonderful photos by Fabio Donato and by Carlo Talamona.
Interviewing the school teacher we touched some of his artistic basic, his motivations and his artist's rule.

The catalogue is published both in Italian and in English

 

CONTENTS

Forewords:

Andrea Ranieri, Councillor Cultural Innovation and Research, City of Genoa
Luca Borzani, President, Genoa Palazzo Ducale, Culture Fondation
Sandra Solimano, Director - Villa Croce – Museum of Contemporary Art
Antonio Borghese, exhibition organiser and ABC-ARTE head Consultant & Curator

 

Shozo Shimamoto, Samurai acrobat of the sight. By Achille Bonito Oliva

Critique that delineates cultural and artistic parallelism between orient and occident, with a highlight on Shozo Shimamoto.

 

Between opera and event. By Lorenzo Mango

A journey through the artistic career of Shimamoto since the beginning at the Gutai, so we go from pictorical experimentations and mail art, finally arriving to the last spectacular performances.

 

For the Banishment of the Paintbrush by Shozo Shimamoto

ideal poster by Shimamoto treated from “In Gutai, Osaka, 1 April 1st, 1957, no. 6”

 

 

Works

The visual session starts with “The Holes” from 1956, masterpieces from his continuos search for new formes of expression. It goes on with the Gutai works, The Action Painting and the Environmental “Bottle Crash” of the 90's.
The clousure gathers the most recent pieces from his artistic expression, created exclusively during his performances, on which space, crowd, instruments and objects combine always into a new kind of experience. For Shimamoto the role of music on his performances has always been to support and glue the pieces of his art toghether.
The “Contrabass” is the final figure of this catalogue, pure reflection of this last period.

The paper works session 70's-'80's of Mail Art moviment.

Interview to Shozo Shimamoto and artist biography.