MATSUTANI

Takesada Matsutani is a Japanese painter and printmaker, a member of the second generation of avant-garde Gutai artists. Matsutani is known for his iconic use of vinyl tape and graphite pencil.

The collections of the Centre Pompidou and the National Institute of Art History in Paris, the National Museum of Art in Tokyo, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington house his work.

Matsutani lives and works between Paris and Nishinomiya, Japan. In 2015, he launched the Shoen Foundation with his wife, Kate Van Houten.

He left Japan in 1966 to study in Paris. Matsutani is part of the Gutai movement. However, he extended the possibilities of the original Gutai concept. At the age of 17, he joined the studio of Stanley William Hayter where he worked for the next six years.

Matsutani is known for his vinyl reliefs using the air-blowing technique. He uses glue as a medium which creates bulges, bubbles and drops on the surface of the canvas. Since 1979, the artist has exhibited regularly in galleries and museums around the world. These include the Ishiyacho Gallery in Kyoto, the Don Soker Gallery in San Francisco and the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in London.