Expo Chicago

For its first participation at Expo Chicago, Axel Vervoordt Gallery is proud to present a solo booth by Japanese artist Norio Imai (Osaka, 1946) , which focusses on the artist’s experimental practices from the 1960s onwards, including installation, performance, painting and film.

Norio Imai joined the Gutai Art Association in 1965 and participated in every Gutai Exhibition until 1972, when the group dissolved.

The exhibited works explore how Norio Imai tests the boundaries of the different artistic media and how his practice has never been confined to the limits of the canvas.

Gutai works as “White Ceremony / Diamond A & Diamond B”, 1966 are in dialogue with works dated from shortly thereafter: “TWO HEARTBEATS OF MINE”, 1976 - a kinetic sound sculpture consisting of two speakers that echo the sound of the artist’s heartbeats and the video documentation “Floor”, 1972, produced and broadcasted as part of a TV station project. The display of the booth integrates also more recent works that still show the conceptual investigations of white relief works.

Axel Vervoordt Gallery also published the catalogue from the exhibition Norio Imai – White Event in 2013 (143pages)