This book is published in conjunction with the exhibition Tsuruko Yamazaki, Beyond Gutai: 1957–2009 held at Almine Rech Gallery Paris from March 13th to April 30th, 2010.
This exhibition was composed of historical pieces from the Gutai era (1954–1972) as well as recent works, offering the public an unprecedented occasion to discover the unique panorama of a body of work built during the past six decades and never shown in its full scope until today. This exhibition, the first of Tsuruko Yamazaki’s in France, featured new work made of tin and canvas specifically made for this exhibition as well as early works that originally marked her ingenuity.
'For six decades Tsuruko Yamazaki traversed a unique path as an artist dedicated to the fiercely independent and radically experimental spirit that defined the Gutai Art Association (1954–1972) the foremost avant-garde art collective to emerge in post-war Japan. As a founding member of the Gutai and a shimmering presence among her peers, Yamazaki found her voice after witnessing an apocalyptic vision. On a pitchblack night, reflections of light ricoched through a group of discared tin cans in the street. In a flash, the fusion of light and metal in the darkness mesmerized Yamazaki, a young aspiring artist, living in the midst of impending recovery from the ruins of war and determined to create something completely new.'
— Midori Nishizawa, Tsuruko Yamazaki, Beyond Gutai: 1957–2009
Text by Ming Tiampo and Midori Nishizawa
27 x 12 cm, 10 5/8 x 4 3/4 inches
Softcover
130 pages
English / French
Edition of 500
Almine Rech Gallery Editions