Paris-based Japanese artist Takesada Matsutani (b. 1937) gives life to material, manipulating glue, graphite, gravity and air into paintings and installations that have expanded the language of contemporary art.
In the Studio: Takesada Matsutani
- Hauser & Wirth Publishers
- Text by Mika Yoshitake
- April 2026 £18.99 / $21.99 / €20 / CHF 18 / HKD 180 A guide to the Matsutani’s life and work, from his first experiments with vinyl glue to the energetic daily studio practice that he has maintained for decades.
In this introduction to the artist’s practice, Mika Yoshitake explores the development of Matsutani’s career over seven decades, revealing the influences, techniques and philosophical concepts that underpin his radically experimental body of work.
‘This work is rigorous, precise, sometimes painful, but for me there is meaning in this kind of trial by disciplined, repetitive movement.’
Takesada Matsutani
Additional Resources
Study Resource
A guide for educators, students and anyone who would like to gain a deeper insight into the artist’s thought processes, sources of inspiration and studio life.
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In the Studio
Explore a new series from Hauser & Wirth Publishers, gives readers a behind-the-scenes view of artists at work. Each book focuses on a major figure of twentieth- or twenty-first-century art offering an introduction to their influences, materials and techniques. Written by leading scholars and critics and generously illustrated, In the Studio titles are the perfect companion for art lovers and newcomers alike.
About the artist
From the early 1960s until the 1970s Matsutani was a key member of the of the influential post war Japanese art collective, the Gutai Art Association. Over six 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.
Photos © Takesada Matsutani 2026 ADAGP, Paris. In The Studio: Takesada Matsutani (2026), Hauser & Wirth Publisher; Matsutani at work in his studio, rue Faidherbe, Paris, 2020-25. Photo: Charles Devoyer; Matsutani with Stream-1 (1977) and Stream-2 (1978), at Martial Arts Dojo, Paris, 1978. Photo: Dōjō d’art martiaux, Paris 1977. Courtesy Archives Matsutani; Still from Takesada Matsutani: Glue (2023). Directed by Lisa Rovner; Takesada Matsutani performs ‘Stream’ as part of ‘Takesada Matsutani. A Matrix,’ Hauser & Wirth, London, 2013. Photo: Guilhelm Alandry; Kate Van Houten and Matsutani in his studio, Paris, July 2023. Photo: Laura Stevens; Still from ‘Takesada Matsutani: In the Studio’ (2018); Takesada Matsutani in Conversation with Olivier Renaud-Clément and Reiko Tomii, 2015.