Kazuo Shiraga1924~2008 白髪一雄

Shiraga Kazuo was an abstract painter born in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, on August 12, 1924, and one of Japan’s leading post-war avant-garde artists. After graduating from the Japanese painting department of Kyoto City School of Painting (now Kyoto City University of Arts), he turned to oil painting and in 1952 formed the “Zero Society” with Murakami Saburo, Kanayama Akira, Tanaka Atsuko, and others. In 1955, he joined the Gutai Art Association led by Yoshihara Jiro, and established his unique “foot painting” technique, in which he spread paint on a canvas on the floor and painted barefoot while clinging to a rope hung from the ceiling. In 1971, he was ordained at Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, receiving the Buddhist name Kodo, but continued his artistic activities into his later years. He died of sepsis on April 8, 2008, at age 83.