(23 February 1935 – 12 November 1990) was a Japanese avant-garde artist whose multidisciplinary practice included painting, performance, installation and sculpture. Associated with the Anti-Art (Han-geijutsu) movement in Japan in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Kudо̄'s provocative art was nourished by lifelong interests in science, sport and everyday objects. His work often presents a radically transformed and grotesque vision of the human body, calling into question its desires and its limits, as well as its future and origins. Never having officially identified with any one group or movement throughout his international career, the artist's body of work evades art historical classification.
Biography
Early life and education Kudо̄ was born in 1935 in Osaka, Japan to two artist parents, both art teachers. His father, painter Kudо̄ Masayoshi, died when Kudō was ten.Doryun Chung (ed.), Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis, exh. cat., Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, 2008.
He was evacuated as a child to Aomori prefecture, where he spent the final years of World War II. Art historian Nakamura Keiji has commented that while Kudо̄ and other artists associated with the Anti-Art (Han-geijutsu) movement were too young to participate in the war, they were brought up and educated in the ideals of wartime Japan. As such, their country's eventual defeat still "constituted a psychological shock as brutal as it was unexpected".Nakamura Keiji , "Tetsumi Kudo", in Tetsumi Kudo - Contestation/Création, exh. cat., Osaka, National Museum of Art, 1994, p. 114-121.
In high school, Kudо̄ joined the art club and received private lessons from painter Koiso Ryо̄hei. He was also fascinated by science, finding inspiration in photos of cancer and nerve cells that classmates studying medicine shared with him, as well as images taken by electron microscopes. He read books on newly developing topics like nuclear and quantum physics.Reiko Tomii, "Kudо̄ Tetsumi and His Anti-Art Peers: Visionary Declarations in 1961", in Susanne Pfeffer (ed.), Tetsumi Kudo Retrospective, Cologne, Buchhandlung Walther König, 2021, p. 271-278.
While not initially admitted to Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music when he first applied in 1953, he was accepted the following year. He graduated in 1958.
Emergence and breakthrough in the Japanese avant-garde scene (1957-1962) As a university student, Kudо̄ actively participated in the Tokyo avant-garde art scene. In 1957, he co-founded the group Tsuchi (meaning "earth" or "soil"), whose name later changed to Ei ("sharp"). Artists who would later be known as integral figures of Japanese post-war art, including Shinohara Ushio and Nakanishi Natsuyuki, took part. Kudо̄, however, left the group after its fourth exhibition. During the late 1950s, Kudо̄ was very close to the Neo-Dada Organizers, however he never officially joined the group.Yoshiaki Tо̄no, "Neo-Dada et Anti-Art", in Japon des avant-gardes, exh. cat., Paris, Centre Georges Pompdiou, 1987, p. 329.
Kudо̄'s first solo exhibition was in 1957 at the Gallery Blanche in Tokyo, where he exhibited paintings doubtlessly inspired in part by the 1956 Tokyo exhibition Art of the World Today (Sekai konnichi bijutsu ten).Doryun Chung, "When the Body Changes into New Forms: Tracing Tesumi Kudo", in Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis, exh. cat., Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, 2008, p. 24-49. The exhibition, which presented works by European and American painters associated with Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel, invigorated Japanese artists who had debated at length about the future of art after the end of the war, and further encouraged them to go beyond the limits of traditional art forms.
Kudо̄'s gestural abstract paintings are piled thick with paint and occasional drippings. Nakamura Keiji has pointed out that the canvases, despite their "automatic" appearance, suggest a deliberate precision in their composition, as if "expressing the will to construct something." The paintings bear titles related to the natural sciences, such as Fusion Reaction, both an indicator of Kudо̄'s fascination for the sciences and giving the impression that Kudо̄ created the paintings "while thinking about the origin of matter and the structure of space".
In addition to his painting practice, Kudо̄ began creating three-dimensional artworks, using found objects, made from materials including but not limited to wood, nails, baskets, scrub brushes and rope. The critic Tо̄no Yoshiaki would later identify Kudо̄ as a representative of the tendency of "Junk Anti-Art," exclaiming: "What an unequivocal metaphysics manifested by the most mundane objects!"Tōno Yoshiaki, "Garakuta no han-geijutsu" [Junk Anti-Art], Yomiuri shinbun, evening edition, March 2, 1960, cited in Reiko Tomii, "Kudо̄ Tetsumi and His Anti-Art Peers: Visionary Declarations in 1961", in Susanne Pfeffer (ed.), Tetsumi Kudo Retrospective, Cologne, Buchhandlung Walther König, 2021, p. XXX Like his paintings, Kudо̄ titled these works with names evoking scientific phenomena, notably Proliferating Chain Reaction. From 1960 onwards, Kudо̄ produced almost exclusively sculptural works.
Kudо̄ also organized a series of three "Happening" events that he titled Anti-Art (Han-geijutsu) throughout 1957 and 1958. These performances involved the artist painting canvases with his entire body with extreme vigor and powerful gestures, sometimes accompanied by musicians. Exploiting the "action" in "action painting," as Shiraga Kazuo and Georges Mathieu had done before him, the extremely physical element of Kudo's work should also be associated with the artist's continued interest in sports. Kudо̄ was an active member of the rugby team during university, and he was an avid boxer. In a text written by the artist in 1960, Kudо̄ highlights the importance of boxing in his creative process, comparing art-making to fighting.
Kudо̄ married Kurihara Hiroko in 1959, with whom he had lived since 1955. While Kudo sold his blood and worked part-time jobs to make ends meet, Hiroko worked as a model to support the couple and actively contributed to Kudo's artmaking throughout the entirety of his career.Hiroko Kudо̄, "Chronology of Selected Works", in Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis, exh. cat., Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, p. 199-264.
In 1960, Kudо̄ participated in the massive Anpo protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. In the midst of the protests, he was invited to give a speech to the Young Japan Society (Wakai Nihon no Kai), a group of artists, writers, and composers who had banded together to take part in protest activities against the treaty. Instead of giving a lengthy speech, Kudо̄ got up on stage and said only the words "Now there is nothing left but action" (Ima ya akushon aru nomi desu) before leaving the stage, indicating his belief that the time for speeches had passed.
Philosophy of Impotence
After the protests failed to stop the passage of the treaty, leading to an overwhelming sense of disappointment and failure on the part of many participants, Kudо̄ began working on a long-running series of installations and Happenings, collectively entitled The Philosophy of Impotence (インポ哲学, Impo tetsugaku). A first version of the installation was presented at the Bungei Shunjū Gallery in Tokyo as part of a solo exhibition. Composed of different formal elements, including photo collages, large, cylindrical sculptures, a loudspeaker announcing stock prices, and loaves of koppe-pan—a Japanese version of Western bread—Kudо̄ considered the objects to collectively form a single work.
Kudо̄ would present a second, different installation, still bearing the same title, at the 1962 Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, where he had exhibited annually since 1958. The work took up an entire gallery of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The artist hung black, penis-shaped objects from the ceiling and the walls of the gallery, some of which were englobed in clear plastic spheres. Udon noodles and koppe-pan were arranged across the gallery floor to evoke ejaculation. Influential artist Akasegawa Genpei said that the work was the "masterpiece of the year."
Highly provocative and far from erotic, Kudо̄ sought to destroy the "beautiful concept of sex" by demonstrating that human beings are, first and foremost, slaves to reproduction, despite our contributions to society and history: our only real purpose is to ensure the survival of the species. Art critic and friend of the artist Anne Tronche has noted that Philosophy of Impotence ran counter to the methodology of the body art movement in the 60s and 70s that claimed sexuality as a means of emancipation and rebellion.Anne Tronche, "La Montagne que nous cherchons est dans la serre", in Tetsumi Kudo: La Montagne que nous cherchons est dans la serre, exh. cat., Paris, La Maison Rouge, Fondation Antoine de Galbert, 2007, p. 33-95.
After moving to Paris in 1962, Kudо̄ continued to use the title Philosophy of Impotence for two happenings which utilized elements of his Tokyo installation. A memorable performance included Kudо̄ dressed as a priest, a number of phallic forms dangling from his body, convening with a large penis until finally falling on the ground while moaning. Allan Kaprow included a short description of the event in his 1966 publication Assemblage, Environments & Happenings.
Move to Paris and life in Europe (1962-1980) In 1962, Kudо̄ won the Grand Prize in the Second International Young Artists Exhibition (Pan-Pacific Exhibition) (Dai-nikai kokusai seinen bijutsuka-ten [Han taiheiyo-ten]) in Tokyo. Kudо̄ decided to use the prize money—1,500 USD—to move to Paris.
Kudо̄'s provocative performances and work led to his entry into the Parisian art world, where he actively exhibited his work. Artist and critic Jean-Jacques Lebel invited Kudo to participate in the group exhibition Catastrophe at the Galerie Raymond Cordier. Pierre Restany presented Kudо̄'s sculptures for the first time in Paris in 1963, at the Galerie J.Pierre Restany, "L'art informel et les échanges Paris-Tokyo", in Japon des avant-gardes, exh. cat., Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1986, p. 268. He participated in the 3rd Biennale of Paris at the Musée d'art moderne in 1963, where he submitted three works to the Japanese section (one of the three, however, was refused for being "indecent").
Kudo's arrival in Paris brought about major changes in his work. He abandoned painting and abstraction completely, focusing on the production of objects and theatrical Happenings that he performed in Paris and other European cities. He began developing works in the form of boxes and dice. Art historian and curator Doryun Chung describes the die as a "potent symbol, standing as a microcosm of modern human life, into which alienated individuals could retreat and fixate on the cure or comfort of their choice [...] At the same time, [...] the association with games and chance effectively suggested the individual's ultimate lack of control and self-determination."