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Yasuo Sumi

YASUO SUMI

Harmony in Chaos Whitestone Gallery 29 March–10 May 2025 Beijing
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Press Release

Whitestone Gallery Beijing is honored to present Yasuo Sumi’s solo exhibition, Harmony in Chaos, from 29th March – 10th May,2025. From works as early as the 1950s, this exhibition will showcase the various stages and events in Sumi’s career – from his participation in the Gutai Art Association to the discovery of a painting technique using an abacus and the subsequent developments that took his art activities around the world. It becomes evident that Sumi embodied a distinctly free-spirited outlook on life, a quality that resonates profoundly in his canvases.

Sumi is known for using unconventional tools such as the soraban (Japanese abacus) and a paper bangasa (traditional umbrella). Other times, he would stick paper on top of a mosquito net and paint with a vibrating mechanism. For Sumi, the messier the work is, the closer it is to the unconscious mind. Therefore, Sumi’s work is full of the tension of life in movement, resembling a chaotic universe or rustic landscape.

‘Art has the power to overturn concepts. Art that doesn’t upset anything is meaningless.’

——by Yasuo Sumi

Yasuo Sumi has always explored the boundaries of art with an unrestrained creative attitude, constructing a unique visual language between chaos and order, intuition and reason. We invite you to enter his art world, to experience a visual feast full of tension and free spirit, and to discover the beauty of artistic harmony in chaos.

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About the Artist

Yasuo Sumi starts painting while working as high school teacher alongside with Shozo Shimamoto, one of the founding members of Gutai Art Association. Sumi who uses soroban (Japanese abacus) as the material of teaching mathematics, discovers by chance that there is beautiful trace left after rolling painted soroban on paper. Since then, soroban becomes synonym for Sumi’s technique as well as vibrator and traditional umbrella. Sumi joins to Gutai in 1955 and continues to exhibit his works at each subsequent Gutai exhibition until its disbandment. The number of improvisational creations reflected his three principals “desperation, absence of seriousness, irresponsibility” is praised by the leader of Gutai, Jiro Yoshihara. As well as Shimamoto, Sumi experiences many exhibitions in Europe and USA, gets popularity especially in Italy.

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Also Exhibiting at Whitestone Gallery

All Exhibitions
Karen Shiozawa
KAREN SHIOZAWA KAREN SHIOZAWA: Emerald Ocean Whitestone Gallery 13 June–18 July 2026 Taipei
Dai Ying
DAI YING The Field of Life and Death Whitestone Gallery 13 June–18 July 2026 Beijing
YOSHIAKI NAKAMURA
YOSHIAKI NAKAMURA Cyborg Butterfly: Threshold | YOSHIAKI NAKAMURA Whitestone Gallery 5–27 June 2026 Tokyo
MANE
MANE MANE: A Stayed Moment Whitestone Gallery 30 May–19 July 2026 Seoul
Address
Sevenstar Street (E.), 798 Art District
No.4 Jiuxianqiao Road
Chaoyang District
Beijing
China
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 6pm (November - April)
11am - 7pm (May - October)
(1)
Beijing Sevenstar Street (E.), 798 Art District, No.4 Jiuxianqiao Road
Whitestone Gallery contemporary art gallery in Beijing China
Whitestone Gallery
Sevenstar Street (E.), 798 Art District, No.4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
+86 10 59920796
http://www.whitestone-gallery.com

Opening hours
Tuesday – Saturday
11am – 6pm (November - April)
11am - 7pm (May - October)
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