Shozo Shimamoto (1928 - 2013)

Shozo Shimamoto’s early work was preoccupied by the relationship between creation and destruction. In the early 1950’s he produced a series Holes, whereby he actively punctured the surface of the canvas, or newspaper which he sometimes used instead due to a lack of funds to buy materials. The holes were first sometimes produced accidentally, and sometimes deliberately. This slightly later series, Esquisse Hole, was produced between 1958-1968 and in this example the artist has used a piece of graph paper.

For a 1954 example in the collection of Ashiya City Museum of Art and History, Japan, titled Work and painted on newspaper, see Ming Tiampo and Alexandra Munroe, Gutai: Splendid Playground, exhibition catalogue, Guggenheim Museum, (New York, 2013), p.156-7, plate 65.

For a similar example from a slightly earlier series Ana [Holes], 1954 in the Tate, London, accession number T07898, go to http:/www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/shimamoto-holes-t07898

The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity no. 1142 issued by the Shozo Shimamoto Association.