‘I still use chance, as I can’t control the glue one hundred percent, it’s impossible. There are no mistakes for me. Rather, I might make a mistake, but if I leave it alone for a day, then look at it again, my mind has changed. I’ve learned much from this.’

— Takesada Matsutani

About Takesada Matsutani

Takesada Matsutani in the studio, 2019
© Takesada Matsutani
Photo: Michel Lunardelli

From the early 1960s until the 1970s Takesada Matsutani was a key member of the influential post war Japanese art collective, the Gutai Art Association. Over five decades Matsutani has developed a unique visual language of form and materials. As part of the Gutai group, Matsutani experimented with vinyl glue, using fans and his own breath to manipulate the substance, creating bulbous and sensuous forms reminiscent of human curves and features.

Matsutani’s work is present in major public and private collections around the world including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and the Long Museum in Shanghai among many others.

About Olivier Renaud-Clément

Portrait of Olivier Renaud-Clément
Photo: Yuma Martellanz

Art consultant, organizer and producer, Olivier Renaud-Clément has curated and co-organized many of Gutai artist Takesada Matsutani’s first solo exhibitions for Hauser & Wirth across the globe, including ‘Takesada Matsutani’ (2020-2021) in Hong Kong, ‘Drop in Time’ (2018-2019) in Somerset and ‘Takesada Matsutani’ (2017) in Los Angeles. Other than that, Olivier also organized more than 20 exhibitions for Hauser & Wirth amongst other partners.

About the Exhibition

Installation View, ‘Takesada Matsutani’, Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong, 2020
© Takesada Matsutani
Photo: Kitmin Lee

For six decades the Osaka-born, Paris-based artist Takesada Matsutani has developed a unique visual language of form and materials. Organized with Olivier Renaud-Clément, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong from 29 October 2020 to 11 February 2021 includes new mixed-media paintings, works on paper, assemblages and an important site-specific installation from the artist’s archive.

From the early 1960s until the 1970s Matsutani was a key member of the influential post-war Japanese art collective, the Gutai Art Association. As part of the group, Matsutani experimented with vinyl glue, using fans and his own breath to manipulate the substance, creating bulbous and sensuous forms. By working closely with the material, this approach embodied an important aspect of Gutai: letting material and spirit work in conjunction with one another to create something new.

Decades have passed and Matsutani continues to be inspired by the tactility of vinyl glue, although today his method places more emphasis on the meditative and methodical. While he doesn’t consider himself a Zen practitioner in his art, he has felt a profound affinity with the philosophy’s call for a ‘return to the simplicity of everyday experience’; its rejection of ‘system-based thinking’; and its emphasis on ‘a constant moment-to-moment praxis’. In his multifaceted works, Matsutani attempts to stop time, to materialize a suspended moment, and acknowledge the repetition and fluidity of everyday life.

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