Ryuji Tanaka
, Hyogo, Japan — , Hyogo, Japan
Ryuji Tanaka was a member of the Pan-real Art Association and the Gutai Art Association, two avant-garde groups that were greatly significant to post-war Japanese art. Tanaka was one of the founders of the Pan-real Art Association and he remained a member from 1948 until 1951. Pan-real was known for their urge to loosen the restrictions concerning the motifs and styles of nihon-ga — traditional Japanese painting — by actively introducing avant-garde elements found in yōga — Western-style painting — to the genre. Tanaka’s works from this early period are figurative and influenced by Surrealism, while also revealing his preference for nihon-ga materials: natural pigments and minerals dissolved in animal glue.
Literally meaning “concrete”, the word Gutai expressed the idea that art constitutes the material manifestation of human spiritual freedom. Tanaka left the group after two years to continue following his own path. From then on the artist adopted another style of expression. After thinly coating the entire surface with pigments, he added ambiguous forms and applied minuscule scratches. While in the 1960s Tanaka mainly used dark shades, his works from the 1980s and 1990s incorporated more colours, lending them a brighter quality. He also added glass powder to create white blurs. The expression of beauty, while exploring the properties of natural elements, remained at the heart of his practice.
About Ryuji Tanaka
Interested in bending the rules of nihon-ga, Tanaka eventually only kept the traditional techniques and use of materials. This led him to establish a uniquely abstract style and new method of painting in the early 1960s. He piled up a thick heap of mineral pigments in the centre of his paintings, creating a large plane of colour. Ore is the main ingredient in these pigments, and as these tiny particles shine in the light, they create a hard, yet delicate and powdery texture. Lines overflow from the edges of the colour plane into the surrounding picture. The roughness of the pigments is bright against the dark background, providing his work with fantastical, mysterious qualities. Tanaka also added pebbles to expand the pigments, and rather than a brush, he used a feather, making the picture blurry and allowing the paint to stream.
In 1965, Tanaka joined the Gutai Art Association, a group that radically followed founding member Jiro Yoshihara’s credo:
Do what no one has done before!
And rather than a brush, he used a feather, allowing the paint to stream and blurring the picture.
