Shozo Shimamoto

During the 1950s and 60s, Shozo Shimamoto explored the boundaries of painting by throwing bottles onto large-scale canvasses, by applying layers of thick matter on them, and by perforating the paper canvas, giving way to his Ana (Holes) series. The hole works that he began prior to his participation and membership in the influential Japanese avant grade group, Gutai Art Association, are especially vital. At approximately the same time, the Italian artist Lucio Fontana began making holes in the picture plane as a way to restore the plane to three dimensions or a space. Shimamoto conceived his painting as a hole, by breaking through layers of glued newspaper.