Shozo Shimamoto1928~2013 嶋本昭三

Shimamoto Shozo (January 22, 1928 - January 25, 2013) was a Japanese contemporary artist born in Osaka. After graduating from the Faculty of Letters at Kwansei Gakuin University, he co-founded the avant-garde Gutai Art Association with Yoshihara Jiro and others in 1954, and is credited with proposing the name "Gutai." He is known for innovative works including "cannon paintings" created by exploding bottled paint onto canvas and helicopter performances dropping paint from above. From the 1970s onward, he developed an international Mail Art network connecting more than sixty countries. In 1998, he was selected as one of the four major postwar artists at MOCA Los Angeles's "After the War" exhibition.