YUKO NASAKA (JAPANESE, B. 1938)

Japan in the 60s was becoming ever more industrialized. Yuko Nasaka, who depicts the circles as a personal motif in her work, experimented with the use of new industrial materials in painting; her work resembles relief sculpture, she also carved circles like the grooves of vinyl LP recordings, then coated them with enamels from a paint gun for greater texture and brilliance. In Infinity (Lot 431), The unique surfaces and details of the medium featured are so attractive that, the frottage technique (textural effects or impressions from rubbings create textures) not normally possible with ordinary painting techniques. Yuko nasaka perfectly exemplify Gutai artists engaged in a deep exploration of the connections between tradition and innovation. nasaka deliberately refuses to overly embellish her concentric circles; they contain slight imperfections like those of traditional ceramics in Japan (Fig.1), where the remnant markings indicative of hand-worked materials were valued over more finely finished surfaces.