Yuko Nasaka

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Portrait of Yuko Nasaka

Yuko Nasaka (名坂有子, Nasako Yuko, born 1938) is a Japanese

Gutai
Art Association.

Early life and education: 1938–53

Yuko Nasaka was born in

alumni such as noted Japanese painter Narashige Koide. Additionally, another artist associated with the school is Senkichiro Nasaka
—Yuko's eventual spouse, who was once a teacher at Osaka Prefectural Ichioka High School.

Early work: 1956–59

Nasaka matriculated at

Ministry of Education's academic salon.[3] During University, Nasaka dedicated her time to this club, and through this platform she submitted paintings to the Nika exhibition in Osaka. Three years later, Nasaka graduated from University and married Senkichiro Nasaka. After graduating from Osaka Shoin Women's University in 1959 and marrying Senkichiro, the young family moved to Ibaraki City, Osaka
, where their first daughter was born.

Naska's early body of work was inspired by an iceman who brought blocks of ice to her home in the summertime when she was young. She was "interested in the shape that was created when he first broke through the blocks with his icepick".[1] She started off by using big cardboard boxes to make her art. Eventually, Nasaka shifted from using cardboard to metal, and went to a foundry to cast her artwork. Her overall process involved spreading out sand-like soil, making holes in it, and then pouring them in metal. She chose these materials specifically because they allowed her to concretely realize her ideas. By this time in her career, she had gravitated away from painting because she felt disconnected to this medium, and instead turned her body of work into "unrealistic, almost abstract shapes".[1]

Involvement with the Gutai group

Around 1962,

Gutai group, inspired Nasaka to submit her art to the 15th Ashiya City Exhibition in 1962. Simultaneously, the exhibition also commemorated the opening of the Gutai Pinacotheca. Ashiya City is where the Gutai group held their first groundbreaking show: "Experimental Outdoor Modern Art Exhibition to challenge the Midsummer Burning Sun".[4] Nasaka eventually won the Ashiya Mayor's Prize, and showed her work at the Ashiya City Exhibition two more times. Shortly after Nasaka submitted her works to the exhibition, Nasaka met Jiro Yoshihara
, the co-founder and leader of the Gutai group.

Nasaka was first involved with the Gutai group in 1962 at the Gutai Pinacotheca, which is an exhibition space in Nakanoshima, Osaka. Gutai artists have regularly exhibited their work in this space. Eventually, Nasaka became officially admitted to Gutai in 1963, alongside Takesada Matsutani. Jiro Yoshihara vouched for Nasaka to other Gutai members to join.

Nasaka said about her Gutai initiation:

Everyone fell silent, but he (Yoshihara) repeated his question three times and everyone clapped their hands. At first there wasn't a sound.

concentric circles.[6] Nasaka was featured in the April 1965 Issue of Art International, was asked to be a judge for the Ibaraki exhibition, and showed her work in the Female Artists' Association exhibition. Nasaka went on a hiatus and did not create art for two decades. However, in the 2000s she began creating artwork again, and held solo exhibitions in 2014 in Tokyo, and in 2015 in Antwerp, Belgium.[7]

Overview of work

Nasaka's later body of work featured

experimentation and used innovative industrial materials for her time. Nasaka's process involved the use of a rotating plate, a tool that was handmade for her. The tool resembles an electric pottery wheel combined with a turntable.[8] She then used resin cement to create circular patterns, and then airbrushes the circles with resin and lacquer.[9] No panel is the same, as each piece denotes a different sphere, color or texture. Ultimately, Nasaka places each panel side by side, and fits them into a grid like formation, expanding the grid so fully that it covers an entire wall akin to that of a mural. The expansion of concentric circles creates an effect of infinite space. Nasaka achieves the effect of four-dimensional space through her concentric circle constructions of varying heights, layering, depths, and textures. Her methods of using non-art materials adhere to Gutai's ethos of experimenting with technologically advanced materials and techniques.[citation needed
]

Work shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In 2013, Nasaka's piece Work (1960) was featured in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's exhibit: Gutai: Splendid Playground. Work (1960) is from Nasaka's concentric circle series, and exemplifies Naska's concern for the relationship between industrialization and humanity. She juxtaposed these ironic notions together to question the direction of humanity, particularly given the circumstances of burgeoning industry and technology.[8]

Nasaka used square wooden panels for the bases, and then coated them with a material that is composed of plaster, glue and clay. While malleable, Nasaka treated the surface with the turntable tool—which resulted in the centrifugal compositions. Nasaka carved delicate patterns onto the surface and then sprayed car lacquer as the final touch. From a distance, the amalgamated panels resemble sonographic screens of photographs of the Moon's surface.[10] Yet, when examined closely, one can see Nasaka's touch. Her intricate carvings demonstrate a sense of unpredictability and betray the illusion of machine-like perfection from afar.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Yuko Nasaka Biography".
  2. ^ a b Vervoordt, Axel (2015). Yuko Nasaka. Paper Kunsthalle. pp. 9–12.
  3. ^ Jiro Yoshihara
  4. ^ First Gutai Exhibition
  5. ^ a b Vervoordt, Axel (2015). Yuko Nasaka. Paper Kunsthalle. p. 24.
  6. ^ "Yuko Nasaka Bio".
  7. ^ "Demythifying Japanese Women Artists" (PDF). www.nukaga.co.jp.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0892074891
    .
  9. ^ "Yuko Nasaka Biography".
  10. ^ "Yuko Nasaka". www.axel-vervoordt.com. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
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