Pace Gallery has unveiled a monumental exhibition on acclaimed Japanese artist Jiro Takamatsu. The World Expands surveys Takamatsu’s pioneering work across painting, photography, sculpture and installation, illuminating the ways in which he connected the worlds of Dada and Surrealism with a Minimalist sensibility that helped usher in a new form of creative expression during Japan’s Post-War period. The show marks the first breadth of work the gallery has shown on the artist since representing his estate back in May.
Alongside fellow artists Genpei Akasegawa and Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Takamatsu first gained recognition by co-founding the collective, Hi Red Center (1963–1964), which distilled the boundaries between art and civic life through unorthodox methods, such as once counterfeiting one-sided Japanese banknotes and mailing them out as an invitation to their exhibition — an act they were tried and found guilty for.
Takamatsu’s most notable imprint came in his Shadow Paintings, a series first started in 1964 and carried on till his death in 1998. The works were thematically inspired by everyday experiences as well as the portrayal of shadows in Japanese paintings and woodblocks from the 19th century, which Takamatsu translated into foggy silhouettes — probing into the philosophic and material origins of painting.
Also on view are a range of sculptures and installations, from Cube (1968) and Strings in Bottles (1963-85) to Oneness of Marble (1971) and Smashing of Everything (1972). Disorderly yet slightly interconnected, Takamatsu’s expansive practice centered around metaphysical concepts that illuminated the invisible relationship between time, space and emptiness.
The World Expands will be on view in New York until November 2, 2024.
Pace Gallery
540 West 25th Street,
New York, NY 10001
