De Buck Gallery is pleased to announce “Destructive Beginnings,” a selection of works by post-war masters, to be presented during the month of August 2015. The presentation draws upon the interwoven relationship that began in the 1950s between European art, in the form of Zero and related movements, and Gutai in Japan. In both countries, the mid-century period was defined by a sense of new beginnings after the physical and psychological devastation wrought by World War II. Artists in both Italy and Japan sought to create something new, a peaceful and expressive sort of art that lent itself to the changing atmosphere of post-war society.
Throughout Europe, Zero artists, inspired by leaders Heinz Mack and Otto Piene, embraced a silence in art, defined by monochromatic, often punctuated or otherwise disrupted surfaces. In this exhibition, the trend is represented by Italian artist Turi Simeti and French artist Bernard Aubertin. Offshoots of the movement sprung up especially in Italy, where Alberto Biasi’s Gruppo N pioneered the field of kinetic art, and artists like Pino Pinelli spearheaded Analytical Art. Meanwhile in Japan, Gutai artists, like the movement’s co-founder Shozo Shimamoto and fellow member Yasuo Sumi, developed unconventional methods of creating art to represent a fresh start in the aftermath of destruction.
This exhibition seeks to highlight the parallel ideals evoked by these groups of artists, as they banded together to create new and compelling artforms.
