Vaisravana 1974

Kazuo Shiraga made this gutsy painting, Vaisravana, with oil paint, but exactly when is a bit of a mystery. Look at the sheer physicality of it! The paint is laid on thick, with these broad, swooping gestures. Shiraga was part of the Gutai group, who were all about action and process. You can almost see him wrestling with the canvas, slinging paint around with his feet, or maybe his hands. It's all about the energy of the moment, the raw expression of the body in motion. That thick impasto, those swirling blues, browns, and grays, create a real sense of depth and texture. See how the light catches the peaks and valleys of the paint? It's almost sculptural. In the upper right, there is a stroke of raw umber, which gives way to white, like bone. These raw, visceral marks remind me of Willem de Kooning's explosive paintings. Art is a conversation, after all, an ongoing dance of ideas and influences, where nothing is ever truly finished.