Fukunichi Newspaper 29th Sep.1976
The creation of a "pan-worldly space" Abstract Art: A straightforward expression of color and form
Presenting before the audience and making an effort to be understood by Shigetaro Yamauchi

The Fukuoka Prefectural Culture Hall (Tenjin 5-chome, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City) is holding the"Pluralistic Abstract Exhibition" by 14 artists living in western Japan. This is a new challenge,organized by Jutaro Yamauchi, who once promoted avant-garde art movements such as KyushuHa and Cave-Ha, with the intention of revitalizing abstract art in the present day. In opening theexhibition, he stated, "Abstract art is a straightforward expression of concrete, multidimensionalrealité. Abstract art is a straightforward expression of concrete, multidimensional realism.Here isa group of artists who are consistently pursuing their own path of abstraction in the midst of thecurrent decline of abstract art. They have come together to question the world they are opening
up for themselves. This is a challenge, a gamble against themselves. What is abstract art?

Today, there are those who believe that art has moved from abstraction to nature, that it hasentered an age of synthesis, or that the era of art has ended with the disappearance of conceptualart. Both of these perceptions reflect the difficult situation in which contemporary art finds itself.

In such an age, what reason does abstract art have for its existence and what possibilities doesit have?

The definition of abstraction in art, which has been the subject of various arguments since theemergence of abstractionist art by Kandinsky and Mondrian, does not define the essence ofabstraction, but is merely a third-party name, like the ridiculously named Impressionism, Beastism,and Cubism, which are descriptive or explanatory expressions of concrete reality, but rather astraightforward expression in color and form.

By nature, works of art are symbols. However, unlike traffic signs, letters, and other symbols, themeaning of a work of art is not instantaneous, voluntary, and dynamic. In other words, it is asymbol. Abstract artists express concrete semantic content in abstract forms as symbols.

When the work, which is a symbol, is presented to the audience, the audience will take in themeaning with the receptive capacity of each eye.
Abstract art is said to be unfamiliar to the general public, but the emergence of abstractionist art
as a contemporary art form is less than a century old. Although abstract art as a contemporary
art form has been around for less than a century, its origins can be traced to prehistoric times.

The origins of abstract art can be traced back to prehistoric times, such as stone circles, stone
hajis, stone objects, and earthenware. Whether they are constructions of transcendental
phenomena or functional objects, they do not represent nature.

The pyramids of ancient Egypt may be the first great abstract art of the historical period. When I
first saw the pyramids rising out of the desert more than ten years ago, I was moved to my core
to see the embodiment of the abstract spirit of humankind. Later, when I learned that the pyramids
were covered with polished black granite when they were first built, the black pyramids instantly
reappeared in my mind's eye and have not disappeared.

Since prehistoric times, there has been a continuous flow of abstraction coexisting with figuration,
too numerous to enumerate.

Looking at our surroundings, abstract forms can be found everywhere in our living spaces, fromhousing, furniture, tools, transportation, machinery, and clothing. Many of these decorative
designs are figurative, but many are also abstract.

In such a living space, we judge, select, and enjoy these abstract forms of daily commodities andbenefits on a daily basis according to their purposes.

When it comes to abstract art, however, it is often shunned on the grounds that it is difficult tounderstand, depending on the quality of the work. However, the artist must spare no effort to beunderstood through the content and method of his work.

In the past, our predecessors expressed the universe through stone gardens created by thearrangement of stones, and found fundamental beauty in the randomness of tea bowls made byunknown potters. These works can be considered abstract art of the highest order.

Abstract art before World War II was called "cold abstraction," and as a reaction to its rigidity andacademicization, "hot abstraction," or "unformel" and "abstract expressionism," emerged after thewar, breathing vibrant life into abstract that had become a mere skeleton.

While there may be various evaluations of "hot abstraction," what should not be overlooked isthat this movement broke through the European limitation of space and opened the horizon toinfinite space. Infinite space is something that has existed since ancient times in Eastern art,
nurtured by Eastern thought. However, except for a very few well-informed artists, there was norecognition of it. Many artists have been working hard to create imitations of Western art sincethe Meiji era. However, the current situation has not changed much.

In order to put an end to the era of one-sided influx of Western art, we must renew our awarenessof Oriental space and create a global space that fuses the Western and the Oriental and that canbe widely disseminated. The creation of a global space that fuses the Western and the Oriental
is what artists who engage in abstraction with greater universality should do.

In November 1965, I was fortunate enough to be present when Herbert Read visited Seifukuji
Temple in Hakata to view the calligraphy and paintings of the monk Sengai.

After looking at Sengai's works, Reed said, "I cannot read calligraphy, so I do not understand themeaning of what is written, but I like the calligraphy better than the paintings.