I am currently attempting to present pure painterly touch, as a direct expression of my own vital energy and emotion. Paintings that you can isolate any part of, and the brushstrokes will be alive and in motion – and the overall surface overflows with vital energy… Painting with the ferocity of living, moving paint. – Masatoshi Masanobu
As a founding member of Gutai Art Association, Masatoshi Masanobu fused his previous training under a Nanga painter (a traditional Japanese ink painting) with Gutai founder Jiro Yoshihara’s directive to do what had not been done before. Masanobu’s answer to this charge was his scribble paintings – oil or enamel works that fused the fluidity of writing with the energy of gestural painting. The yellow marks in this work sit atop brown and purple tones, implying depth and uncertainty underneath the field of curled lines reminiscent of symbols or language. Masanobu participated in every official Gutai exhibition, and his beautiful and understated work has been exhibited throughout Japan.