Sadamasa motonaga biography of william

Japanese painter (–)

Sadamasa Motonaga (元永定正, Motonaga Sadamasa, born November, 26, ,in Iga Ueno, died October 3, , in Takarazuka) was a Japanese visual artist and book illustrator, and a first-generation member of the postwar Japanese artist group Gutai Art Association, Gutai for short.

Motonaga’s oeuvre, comprising paintings, objects, performances and stage art, ceramics, murals and installation artworks and picture books, is characterized by his humorous, enlivening (animating) use of biomorphic abstract shapes inspired by nature and manga cartoons, as well as the exploration of the materiality of color.

He is most known for his ephemeral works from Gutai’s experimental exhibition projects, such as Liquid: Red and Works (Water) from and , which used vinyl sheets and tubes filled with color-tinted water; his stage works from and , which involved smoke as artistic material; and for his Informel-style paintings from the late s that experimented with pou