2016 Catalogue Archive

Yuko Nasaka joined the Gutai Art Association in 1963 and became a key member of the group’s Phase Two activities. She became known for modular relief sculptures that she created on a hand-made turntable. Using a palette knife, she created circular compositions made of materials such as plaster, clay, and resin. Nasaka’s use of industrial tools, materials, and process to create repeated forms is seen as echoing a country that was increasingly mechanical and mass-produced in the early 1960s. In this recent painting, the deep jade color and granular texture resemble a cosmos, an effect not often seen in her early work. Jiro Yoshihara featured Nasaka’s work in a 1964 solo exhibition at the Gutai Pinacotheca, and her work has been included in important group exhibitions in Japan and abroad.