Sadaharu Horio

Born: Tokushima,1937.
Period of Membership at GUTAI: 1966-1972

Sadaharu Horio was born in 1939 in Hyogo Prefecture, where he died in 2018. He began to create art partway through the 1950s while working at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Kobe Shipyard. He exhibited at the Gutai Art Exhibition from 1965, becoming a member of the Gutai Art Association in 1966 and continuing to exhibit up there up until its dissolution. He also exhibited his work at “Art Now” in 1976 and 1981 (1970 to 1980). He established the Higashimon Gallery in 1979, where he held a solo　exhibition, “Atarimae no Koto (A Matter of Course)”, in 1985. From then on, this became Horio’s lifelong theme. In that same year, he began “ironuri [paint placement]”, in which he painted the objects around him one color each day. Following the closure of the Higashimon Gallery, he established the Rokken Gallery. After his retirement, he held over 100 solo exhibitions and performances a year. In 2000, he held a solo exhibition at the Ashiya City Museum of Art and History. In 2005, he participated along with the [KUKI] contemporary art squad at the Yokohama Triennale. He began to receive international acclaim from the 2010s, holding solo exhibitions in Antwerp, Venice, New York, and Hong Kong. He developed a wide range of activities from painting to performance.

【As a member of The Gutai Art Association】
In 1965, he participated in the 15th Gutai Art Exhibition, becoming a member of the group the following year.
Horio was a prolific artist who often worked with his hands, and his designs were diverse. He recoated canvases and objects with paint on a daily basis, and pasted rolled or bundled cloth on the canvas, making it difficult to define his style.
After Gutai disbanded, he was spurred on to practice his work across multiple disciplines such as painting, sculpture, performance, ink painting, and calligraphy. From 1985 in particular, he developed a practice which bridged art and daily life/creation and life, touting a concept of “ordinary things”.