Analogy

Yutaka Funai

Yutaka Funai's serigraphs and lithographs of minimalist, geometric studies began during his time with the experimental art group Gunai (1955 - 1971), considered Japan's first avant garde movement. A founding member, he collaborated with the group for one year before joining the Democratic Art Association and exhibiting throughout Japan, Europe, and the U.S.

Funai's "can" works, which feature variations on the theme of a floating cylindrical shape superimposed on a field of contrasting lines, were originally criticized in the late 1960s for coat-tailing on the Pop Art scene of the 1960s New York, particularly Warhol's Campbell's Soup series. However, Funai's experimentation with these shapes predates the American art movement and emerged throughout his career as a meditation on spatial relation and his affinity for finding order within chaos.

Painter, printmaker, and collagist Yutaka Funai had originally gone to school to study law before switching to printmaking and painting, taking courses at the Osaka University of Art under Izumi Shigeru. He was an original member of the Japanese post-war avant garde movement "Gunai," which spanned the years 1955 to 1972 under the direction of Jiro Yoshihara. Following his time there he joined the Democratic Artist Association and continued to exhibit throughout Japan as well as internationally. He taught at the Osaka University of Art in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 2011, the year following his death, a major retrospective was held at the Art Court Gallery in Osaka, Japan, featuring over 150 works including silkscreens, lithographs, oil paintings, and collages from the 1950s to the 1990s. His works are held in museums throughout the U.S. and Japan, with major collections at the National Museums of Osaka and Kyoto.