The New York Observer
  • Betabeat
  • Politicker
  • GalleristNY
  • Commercial
  • VSL
  • PolitickerNJ
  • Observer
  • Betabeat
  • Politicker
  • GalleristNY
  • Scene

Gallerist NY

  • Happenings: This Week in New York
  • 'Punk: Chaos to Couture' at the Met
  • Koons at Gagosian and Zwirner
Follow @Gallerist_NY

Sadamasa Motonaga at McCaffrey Fine Art

LAST
/
NEXT
By Andrew Russeth 6/07/12 1:45pm

Japan Society Gallery Names Miwako Tezuka Director

  • Installation view of "Sadamasa Motonaga" at McCaffrey Fine Art
    Start The Slideshow

    Should you find yourself in the mood for a bit more abstract art after a visit to the Guggenheim’s large and enlightening new survey “Art of Another Kind: International Abstraction and the Guggenhein, 1949–1960,” let us strongly recommend the mile-long walk down to McCaffrey Fine Art, which is currently hosting eight works by Japanese artist Sadamasa Motonaga (1922–2011).

    The two earliest paintings in the show are dated 1958, at the tail end of the Guggenheim’s timeline. Then a member of Japan’s Gutai movement, Motonaga poured paint—deep blue for one painting, deep red in the other—to make big, meaty pools slowly slid down the canvas to form a giant streak. At their densest sections they resemble blood, like Sam Francis at his burliest, and the gallery’s news release compares them smartly to Morris Louis’s Veil works, which are contemporaneous.

    The later works are the real thrills here—in a piece from the 1960′s, those single, sliding pools of color become shooting blobs that streak across the white canvas, leaving lush, almost watery trails in their wake. In the 1970′s, Motonaga’s art became increasingly psychedelic, hallucinogenic even—the earthier tones of previous years giving way to light blues and oranges in trippy, neon and pastel pitches. The Gutai splatter has been resolved into perfectly smooth edges, prefiguring something of Takashi Murakami’s Superflat technique.

    Though Motonaga is not included in “Art of Another Kind,” the Guggenheim show, the exhibit at McCaffrey marks the artist’s first solo New York outing since 1961 (at Martha Jackson, just a block away from McCaffrey), and provides a nice look forward at the developments that followed those of the artists included in that exhibition and offers a tantalizing preview of another Guggenheim show, the Gutai retrospective, which will arrive in February and features his work.

  • Back Forward Installation view of "Sadamasa Motonaga" at McCaffrey Fine Art

    Installation view of "Sadamasa Motonaga" at McCaffrey Fine Art

    Courtesy McCaffrey Fine Art

  • Back Forward Sakuhin, 1958 [#2]

    Sakuhin, 1958 [#2]

    Courtesy McCaffrey Fine Art

  • Back Forward Sakuhin, 1964

    Sakuhin, 1964

    Courtesy McCaffrey Fine Art

  • Back Forward Sakuhin, 1978

    Sakuhin, 1978

    Courtesy McCaffrey Fine Art

  • Back White Circle with Cross Stripes, 2004

    White Circle with Cross Stripes, 2004

    Courtesy McCaffrey Fine Art

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google +1
  • Email
  • Print
Next in Gallerist

Connect With Us

Send

If you'd like us to follow up in regard to this tip, please remember to leave some form of contact information.

Send

Most Popular

Across the Wire

  • books

    Changes at The New York Times Book Review

  • Stratospheric Sales

    Doesn't Anyone Love One57?

  • Up & Down the Street

    Permission to Splurge: Whole Foods Isn't Just About Where You Buy Your Food; It's About Who You Think You Are

  • cannes 2013

    Cannes: Street Gunfire and a Hotel Heist Keep the Festival on Edge

  • animal rights

    Animal Care Volunteers Bite Back

    • About
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy
    • Masthead
    • Advertise With Us
Powered by WordPress.com VIP
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.