720 N. Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

6917 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver
About bed: a, 1995
Print and colored pencil on paper
13 3/4 x 16 3/4 in
34.9 x 42.4 cm

SHUZO AZUCHI GULLIVER‘Synogenesis’
February 4 - March 25, 2023
Opening Reception:
Saturday, February 4, 6-8pm

www.nonaka-hill.com

Tel. 323 450 9409

720 N. Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

6917 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

Tel. 323 450 9409

SHUZO AZUCHI GULLIVER: ‘Synogenesis’

February 4 - March 25, 2023

Nonaka-Hill Gallery is delighted to present SHUZO AZUCHI GULLIVER Synogenesis, whichmarks Azuchi’s first West Coast solo exhibition, encompassing multimedia works spanning

Opening Reception:from 50 years of the artist's dynamic career.

Saturday, February 4, 6-8pm
In 1963, after finding a book on the works of Marcel Duchamp, written entirely in French-Shuzo Azuchi was inspired by the liberating qualities he saw in the works, prompting him tocommence his first Happenings in highschool. Staging performances such as, Grassfields(1963), in which 9 performers weeded a 9m x 9m plot of the schoolyard, while viewers
watched from the roof.
In 1967, Azuchi studied philosophy at Ritsumeikan University, during this time Azuchi met
international members of Fluxus, picking up the nickname “Gulliver,” and leading him to
broaden his artistic practice with developments in expanded cinema. Using his own bodyas a reference point, Azuchi charts its relation to space, time, and empirical data. The
influence of Duchamp retained in Azuchi’s documentary approach to artistic production.
Cataloging both the physical and intangible world (space, sound) and calling to question thenecessary structures (organic and constructed) which define us.
Weight (Human Ball) (1978), part of a larger body of work in which the artist creates a stainlesssteel ball recording his weight at the time of its production, documenting, cataloging andsuperimposing the artist's physical mass within the context of a given time - while the polishedsurface of the ball reflects the surrounding world. The object rests on a sofa - its weight
imprinting on the cushion providing a placeholder for the artist’s physical presence. The later
work, Weight (Human Ball) (2022), again documents the artist's weight at the time ofproduction, now presenting a slightly heavier mass. The series provides a comprehensive
chart documenting the artist's physical presence in the world over a period of time.
Focusing on the ideological concept of the body, Azuchi’s ongoing BODY (1973-) project,formulates a contract entrusting 80 individuals to 80 parts of the artist's posthumous body.
The contract, structured as a legal agreement, lists each of the 80 pieces of Azuchi’s body
utilizing spatial designation (right/left), names, numbers, and signs ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ as symbols forthe respective parties. The work not only breaks down the physical composition of the body,
but in the process of producing the contract - each party recognizes and confirms theexistence of the other. Each of the 80 pieces are intended to become preserved as art
objects after the artist's death.
While the analytic mapping of the flesh reiterates the artist's larger play on the physical body's
spatial presence, it also introduces Azuchi’s larger exploration into contracts (signs andmeanings) which define language, understanding, and provide the foundation for empiricalknowledge.
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720 N. Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

6917 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

Tel. 323 450 9409

“Here I am citing the concept of a contract. And this act works to clarify itself. The many
concepts that we have formed can be thought to be a single contract. The view of theworld is a bunch of contracts concluded between the world and us. If the contracts
represent an exchange, what have we exchanged with the world?”(Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver: Appearance (Diecidue Arte, 1991).
During the 1984 performance De-Story, Azuchi enclosed himself within a geometric structurecomposed of measurements necessary for the artist to sit, stand, and lie. Confined in thespace for 10 days (a total of 240 hours). A speaker attached to the tall‘stand’ section,
projects the rhythm of the artist's heartbeat - recalling the coporality of the being inside thestructure. Small “De-Story” (1984), documents this work, reformulating it into a model fit for agoldfish. Presented alongside the relic Foodbox for “De-Story” (1984), the original bento-box

used to serve the artist food 3 times a day during the 10 day performance. While these works
chart a spatial trajectory of the physical body, they recognize the body as a structure which
grounds it into the world.
Azuchi’s work also extends beyond bodily observation. Interested in how each living form iscomposed of four elements, (A=Adenine, T=Thymine, C=Cytosine, G=Guanine), making up
the genetic material DNA. Azuchi repeats patterns for genetic coding in works such as Body/A.T.C.G (1993), printing the ‘ATCG’ coding upon a piece of paper and delicately clipping it
upon a hanger - in a shape reminiscent of the human figure.

Although Azuchi’s body of work is far ranging, they call to attention the necessary structures
fundamental to life - whether that be the physical body, the structuring of language as anagreement of sounds, symbols and their meanings, or the construct of time. Azuchi’scataloging of the world provides not only a humorous perspective on the nature of reality, butalso a method in the search of meaning and truth.

Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver (b. 1947; Shiga Prefecture, Japan). Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver lives and works in Tokyo,
Japan. Selected solo exhibitions include Breath-Amorphous (2022) BankArt, Yokohama (Japan);
Cinematic Illumination (2020) Museum of Moderm Art (United States); La dolce vita (1999/2015) (2015)
Neue Kunstverein Wuppertal, Wuppertal (Germany); Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver (2009), Dieci.Due Arte, Milano(Italy). Permanent installations and public/museum collections include Shiga Museum of Art (Shiga,Japan); The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Kyoto, Japan); Tokyo Photographic Art Museum(Tokyo, Japan); Museum of Modern Art (New York, United States).
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720 N. Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

6917 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

Tel. 323 450 9409

Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver

Biography

2023
2022
2020

SHUZO AZUCHI GULLIVER: ‘Synogenesis’, Nonaka-Hill, Los Angeles‘Breath-Amorphous’ BankART, Yokohama‘Cinematic Illumination’ Museum of Moderm Art, New York

‘Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2020: The Imagination of Time’,Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014

‘Note to note’ Spaziodanseei, Oligiate Olona (Italy)‘On a bien accroché’ (with Marc Buchy) Maison Grégoire, Brussels‘Japanese Expanded Cinema Revisited’ Tokyo photographic Museum, Tokyo‘Sange/Letters from the World (petali che cadono)’ Spaziotemporaneo, Milano‘La dolce vita (1999/2015)’ Neue Kunstverein Wuppertal, Wuppertal (Germany)

Begins “Sound gift,” a project to counteract “BODY” project, where ever single soundpronounced until death is presented as a gift.

2012
2011
2010
2009
2004
2003

‘SHI’ (with Yuki Okumura) Etablissement d'en face project, Brussels‘From/To Sri Lanka’ Sakado station, Sakato (Japan)‘One night exhibition in the Dream’

Holds comprehensive one-man exhibition “EX-SIGN”‘Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver’ Dieci.Due Arte, Milano‘Tai-i (Paradigm)’ Kyoto Seika University Gallery Fleur, Kyoto

Lecture ‘Il fascino indiscreto del denaro’ at Aura Magna dell'Ateneo Veneto, Venezia‘Zero/Concept' (Art affairs, Amsterdam)

2000

Researcher, Tokyo University Research into Artifacts, Center for Engineering.

1999

Lecture and speech ‘The ancient human being and the modern artist: The sense of1998‘Ex-self’ Mizuma art Gallery, Tokyo1997
1996

drawing’ Museo Civico di Storia Naturare di Milano, Milano‘Fukui Biennale 7: Media and Human body’ Fukui City Art Museum, Fukui (Japan)‘Art Meets’ Charlottenborg (Copenhagen)‘Garden Project’ Aalsmeer (The Netherlands) Commissioned by City Aalsmeer,
Provincie Noord-Holland and Mondrian foundation

1994
1993
1992

‘Of the human condition’ Spiral art center, Tokyo‘Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver’ Unimedia, Genova‘Brain-Internal Affairs’ Beatrixziekenhuis, Gorinchem (The Netherlands)‘Avanguardie Giapponesi Degli anni 70’ Galleria comunale d'Arte moderna Bologna,
toured to Setagaya Museum, Tokyo

1991
1990
1984
1977-78
1973‘Body’ Dieci.Due! MilanoActivity in Europe increases.
Lecture ‘Paik opera (dedicated to Nam Jun Paik)’ Nagoya art forum, Nagoya‘De-story’ (240 hours performance ) Az corporation, TokyoOrganize ‘Yoyogi opened studio’ Tokyo

Begins the exemplary “BODY” project, where the body is divided into 80 parts after
death and entrust the parts to 80 specic people through a specic executive group.

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720 N. Highland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

Short Curriculum Vitae

19676917 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038

Tel. 323 450 9409

Forms “PLAY” group with acquaintances from Kansai to oppose “Gutai group” Late-60s.
Produces experimental cinematographs, networks with Japanese members of Fluxus.

1967
1964

Makes headlines as one of the leaders representing Japanese “futen,” or hippie.

Begins working on subjective works such as the performance ( ‘Happening’ ). Befriends
American beatniks visiting Kyoto, studying philosophy at University.

Shiga Museum Art (Shiga, Japan)
Permanent Installations,

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Kyoto)

Museum andTokyo Photographic Art Museum (Tokyo)

Public Collections

Museum of Moderm Art (New York)Kyoto Seika University (Kyoto)
Shiga Perfectural ZEZE High School (Shiga, Japan)
Haverford College (Haverford, USA)www.nonaka-hill.com