Whitestone Gallery Hong Kong is proud to present the group exhibition “Whirlwind: Informel to Gutai”, featuring the significant names in the trajectory of Japanese contemporary art, including Toshimitsu Imai, Hisao Domoto, Atsuko Tanaka and Yuko Nasaka. The exhibition showcases a rich selection of artworks that defines the era of liberation and pioneer art approach of the post-war period. These artists questioned the conventional rules and embraced individuality, bringing a new wind to the history of contemporary art.

In the post-war period, art individuals began to challenge art norms and the controlled traditional art gestures. Art Informel is an art movement from the 1940s to 1950s first started in France. It purses the spontaneity and freedom in art expression and experiments with surrealistic approach. Toshimitsu Imai and Hisao Domoto, who at that time based in France, are the Japanese members of the art group. Imai, known for his use of organic colors and explosive brushworks, retains the Japanese aesthetic in his works that captures nature and art in tandem. Domoto garnered much attention due to his Abstractionist flair using thick oil paint with swirling dynamic forms in composition and intuitive properties. The two artists brought the idea of Art Informel to Japan in 1953 which created the Informel whirlwind that was to take over in the Japanese art scene. This also underpinned the rise of Gutai.

Gallery address: 7-8/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central