Work (Holes) 作品（穴）

We are faced with a picture ruthlessly ripped and torn. Some violent force has covered the surface with slashes and holes, allowing us to see what is beyond. From beneath the upturned edges of the tears peek pages of an old newspaper. Layers upon layers of newspaper can be glimpsed through the holes. The scars made at the hands of man and the complex matiére of external and internal layers that result create the abundant effects of expression.
When Shimamoto was just beginning as an artist, he painted his works, to save money, on home-made canvas he made by gluing together layers of newspapers. One day, as he was repeatedly drawing powerful lines in pencil, he accidentally pierced the old newspaper with his pencil tip and made a hole. The resulting "Holes series", in which the violent actions of the artist seem frozen in time, won praise even from Shimamoto's strict teacher Jiro Yoshihara. In this work, we see traces of the battle between man and substance an idea connected with those of the GUTAI Group, which the two artists were later instrumental in founding. In fact, several years later, this work was featured in the first issue of the "GUTAI" journal.