Ayala Museum, in partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation, with special participation of The Japan Foundation, Manila and Sony Philippines, presents its opening exhibition for 2016 entitled A Taste of Gutai under the Collectors Series program.
This exhibition – which will run until April 10 – pays homage to Gutai, a Japanese art movement defined by a radical and energetic approach to artmaking that encompassed performance, painting, installation, and theatrical events, anticipating what would soon be popular movements in contemporary art following Abstract Expressionism.
A Taste of Gutai includes over 80 paintings and sculptures by members of Gutai who made use of unconventional, highly physical techniques such as painting with feet, wrestling in cement and gravel, and deploying paint from elevated surfaces and cannons to create art. Later on, they also created works using sound, space, light, and performance, and would often stage them in public or in the presence of the media to spread their ideas across the globe.
Founded by Jiro Yoshihara, the Gutai movement was composed of artists based in the Kansai region whose works caught the attention of artists and art critics outside of Kansai, and subsequently led to major Gutaiexhibitions in Tokyo, Europe, and America. They also collaborated with other artists’ groups in Europe and America, including Allan Kaprow’s Happenings, the Art Informel group, and the Dutch Nul collective.
The objects on display in A Taste of Gutai were loaned from the private collection of Lito and Kim Camacho and the exhibition is held under the Collectors Series program. Through Collectors Series, Ayala Museum is able to showcase several works, which have not been publicly displayed. Private collections are personal narratives of the fascination, passion and persistence shown by individuals towards a particular artist. Their personal holdings embody certain aspects in the development and evolution in the artist’s practice, and expand the discussion and understanding of modern and contemporary art here and abroad.
For more information, email hello@ayalamuseum.org or call (+632) 759 82 88.
