Takesada Matsutani’s work emerges from a sustained engagement with material behavior rather than pictorial composition. Associated with the Gutai group, he rejected expressive gesture in favor of processes that allow material to assert its own logic.
Glue, vinyl, ink, and graphite are stretched, inflated, sealed, and restrained until surface becomes a physical event. Rather than depicting form, Matsutani constructs it through pressure. Bulging membranes, elongated seams, and darkened apertures suggest internal force held just short of rupture. The work emphasizes duration and resistance over immediacy.
Graphite drawings extend this logic into line. Dense fields of repeated strokes accumulate into velvety darkness, transforming drawing into a labor of compression. Across decades, Matsutani has maintained a commitment to material discipline, focusing on how surface holds force rather than image or narrative.
Takesada Matsutani is a Japanese artist associated with the Gutai movement, known for works that explore material tension and surface pressure through glue, vinyl, ink, and graphite.
