It is at the 8th Gutai Exhibition that Mukai appears for the first time; participates at every Gutai exhibition until group’s dissolution. Mukai’s works are composed of various types of symbols that filled the canvas, spaces, and sometimes the body of the artist himself. Mukai establishes his own style in his early career; his exquisite installation is already apparent at the 10th Gutai Exhibition (1961), solo exhibition in Gutai Pinacotheca (1962), symbolization of Jazz café “Check”(1966), etc. In 1969, the artist executes his large-scale happening in which he burns all of tableaus. Thus, Mukai’s stance is always ahead of the time. Installations at the Guggenheim Museum’s retrospective exhibition “Gutai: Splendid Playground” (2013) and extension exhibition of Venice Biennial, Proportio at Palazzo Fortuny (2015) are still fresh in our mind. In 2017, Mukai contributes his installation works to the renewal of Louis Vuitton’s SOHO boutique in New York (curated by architect Peter Marino), highly acclaimed from versatile fields.
