Kazuo Shiraga, (August 12, 1924 –
April 8, 2008) A Japanese modern artist who belonged to the Gutai group of
avant-garde artists. He was acknowledged internationally only after his death.
Shiraga is said to have seen the
viscosity of tube-ready oil paint as "free." This is compared to the
paints he was forced to use in painting school, which were thin ink-based
paints. Shiraga would experiment by using his hands and fingers with oil paints
in his younger years.
In the 1940s he studied Nihonga
at the Kyoto City University of Arts. In 1953 he founded the group "Zero
Kai" with Akira Kanayama, Atsuko Tanaka and Saburo Murakami which merged
with Gutai in 1955. Shiraga created "mud paintings" by using his
whole body to leave impressions in wet mud. For over ten years, from 1956 to
1966, his Performance Paintings were largely painted with his feet. Later he
was influenced by Frenchman Jean-Jacques Lebel. 1971-72 he lived as a Buddhist
monk.