Lot 1606: TAIZO YOSHINAKA

TAIZO YOSHINAKA
(1928-1985)
A Certain Time and Space G
signed, inscribed and titled in Japanese (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
129.5 x 161 cm. (51 x 63 3/8 in.)
Painted in 1980

Tokyo, Japan, Striped House Museum, Whole World of Taizo Yoshinaka, 1988.
Tokyo, Japan, The Shoto Museum of Art, TAIZO YOSHINAKA Rethinking of Japanese Art, 1999-2000.
Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, TAIZO YOSHINAKA Rethinking of Japanese Art, 2000.
Tokyo, Japan, Bunkyo Art, Taizo Yoshinaka 20 Years Posthumous- Various Peaceful Expressions, 25 July-10 August, 2005.

Sougou bijutsu kenkiushoen, Taizo Yoshinaka's works 1928-1985, Tokyo, Japan, 1988 (illustrated, p. 18).
Hisako Yoshinaka, Taizo Yoshinaka 1955-1984, Japan, 1992 (illustrated, p. 76).
The Shoto Museum of Art, Taizo Yoshinaka Rethinking of Japanese Art Since 1945, exh. cat., Tokyo Japan, 1999 (illustrated, p. 113).

A creation of his seminal "white paintings" period where a seemingly modest flat plane is meticulously crafted in multiple layers to construct a textured relief, A Certain Time and Space G (Lot 1606) offers a unique minimalist view of a traditional Japanese subject by renowned artist Taizo Yoshinaka. Approaching his subject matter in an aerial and frontal perspective, the ambiguous dual pictorial plane opens the viewer's mind to imagine whether the depicted space expands beyond the corners of the canvas. While the small space in the top right corner appears to be floating, as the only coloured corner, it weighs heavily and therefore equalizes the large encased vase on the left.

The monochromatic simplistic vase is reminiscent of ikebana, an artform dedicated to arranging flowers in a modest yet highly balanced visual composition of distinct Japanese flavour. Perhaps portraying objects of Japanese ceramics, as seen in the round form, an integral artistic practice in Japanese history exudes comfort and inexplicable affinity to Yoshinaka's distinct spiritualism. Equally referential to past art forms is the single steady calligraphic line used to distinguish shape from background.
By avoiding embellishments, fanciful colours or fabrication that may distract from the truthful existence of these objects, the viewer cannot but cower from the powerful sense of determination in the graceful depiction of this abstract yet intimate still life. It is through elegantly defined shapes and tones that Yoshinaka's complex character and deep contemplative critique on society is fashioned. In the small creases of the paint or the black that slowly seeps into the beige, we can imagine the artist carefully and purposefully fulfilling his artistic and personal endeavours.