picture-5 1960

Kazuo Shiraga made this painting using his feet, a real departure from the usual brush! Look at the surface, it’s thick and swirling, like he's almost sculpting with paint. You can see the physicality of the medium, the way the paint has been pushed and pulled across the canvas. His bare feet leave traces of movement and gesture, a choreography that's both bold and intimate. There is something very raw and immediate in his approach, a kind of primal energy. It reminds me a bit of Yves Klein's body prints, but Shiraga takes it even further, using his whole body as a tool. The surface becomes a record of a performance, a dance between artist and material.