Shuzo Takiguchi's Artistic Practice and Creations

Shuzo Takiguchi (1903-1979), a poet and art critic from Toyama Prefecture, is also known as an artist. In 1958, Takiguchi traveled to Europe as the representative and judge of Japan at the Venice Biennale, and after his official duties in Venice , he spent about four months traveling to various European countries, mainly in Paris. During his trip, he visited Salvador Dalí, André Breton, Henri Michaux, and had meetings with them. After returning to Japan, he gradually “began to feel hindered in writing journalistic criticism”, distanced himself from art criticism, and started writing more poems and text addressed to his friends. From that time on, he devoted himself to creation and eventually held a solo exhibition, which was unusual for a critic, and presented his works. In 1960, the leaflet for his solo exhibition held at the nantenshi gallery stated, "A few months ago, I bought a sketchbook. I drew lines with a fountain pen. And I sought something other than characters on the manuscript paper. I don't know if I'm writing or drawing. The ambiguity is a problem for me. "Takiguchi has been practicing artistic activities since before the war, and it seems that this comes from the "spirit of experimentation" that underlies all of Takiguchi's activities. Many of these activities were carried out by Takiguchi himself, experiencing and creating techniques that were introduced and advocated by the writers he introduced through his own writings and translations. One of the representative techniques of surrealism, "decalcomania," was proposed by Oscar Dominguez. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp's Rotary Grass Plates and Rotoreliefs, Takiguchi applied them to create Roto-dessin, a watercolor painting that evokes the drawings of informal artists such as Jean Fautrier and Georges Mathieu. Particularly, Takiguchi created numerous works that seemed like a combination of writing, symbols, and drawings that resembled Movements of Henri Michaux , whom he visited in 1958, or unconsciously drawn lines. This exhibition focuses on Takiguchi's artistic creations, inviting you to appreciate his role not just as a critic who writes, but also as a practitioner and experimenter.