Yuko Nasaka

Yuko Nasaka, born in Osaka, Japan, became a member of the Gutai art group in the early 1960s, establishing herself as one of the second-generation artists of the group. In 1964, Nasaka held her first solo exhibition at the Gutai Pinacotheca, featuring a captivating space filled with concentric circles. The exhibition garnered attention from visitors and prominent international figures, including Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham. Nasaka drew inspiration for her use of the circle as a motif in her work from her family's ownership of a factory that housed various industrial tools, including circular meters commonly used in ships. From the golden days of the GUTAI group in the 1960s to the present, Nasaka has been consistently making images of concentric circles painted in relief. Her process begins by producing motifs of concentric circles using a rotating plate and resin. These individual motifs are then assembled to construct monumental artworks that span almost the entire surface of a wall. Through her emphasis on the repetition and accumulation of the same motifs, Nasaka skilfully conveys a sense of infinite space, evoking a feeling of endlessly expanding pictorial space for the viewers. She would use drills, compressors and industrial materials like resin and lacquer to produce her bold works. ABOUT GUTAI »