Yayanagi's works are composed with crisp outlines and vivid colouring, and, in what could be dubbed 'Yayanagi style', finished with broad striped patterns. Figures, animals and plants are boldly arranged, as though vying with each other for space; the human and natural worlds, surging together as they spread over the picture plane. In this exhibition Yayanagi has chosen to present 365 drawings created in 1983. From the 1st January to the 31st December that year, the artist continuously produced one drawing each day. Comprising vestiges of a day-in-day-out process, the series achieves kaleidoscopically dynamic changes. For this exhibition, Yayanagi, who was born and raised on farmland in Hokkaido, will also create an installation using milk can he has been storing. Along with these, he will present oil paintings, prints and three-dimensional pieces, in an overview of his wide-ranging practice, resulting in what amounts to an elucidation of the artist's unique vision. In his various travels to all corners of the world, through diverse environments, Yayanagi has had to contend with many different peoples and societies along the way. The chance images or phenomena he encountered have become materials that are incorporated into his practice, breathing vitality into his work, and continuing his fierce struggle across the picture space. We sincerely hope you take this opportunity to become acquainted with an artist whose oeuvre tenaciously tackles myriad times and spaces. Artist Profile
Yayanagi Go was born in 1933, in Obihiro, Hokkaido. After graduating from Hokkaido Obihiro Agricultural Higher School in 1951, he entered Hoshi University, Tokyo, but pulled out before graduating to pursue a career as an artist. In 1957 moved to Sao Paolo, Brazil, eventually realizing a solo exhibition in that city's museum of modern art. Tirelessly working as an artist, he subsequently realized numerous exhibitions in various foreign countries in later years. Afterwards, on his way back to Japan, Yayanagi traveled through Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong and Manila. In 1965 he relocated overseas again to Paris, staying for three years, while studying copperplate printmaking under master printmaker S.W. Hayter, at Atelier 17. Yayanagi has been internationally active across a wide range of genres, holding numerous exhibitions in Japan and overseas, including his oil paintings, prints and diverse design works. * The text was provided by Tokyo Gallery + BTAP.