Tsuruko Yamazaki

Born: Ashiya, 1925. Died: 2019
Period of Membership in GUTAI: 1954-1972

In 1946, after attending an art workshop led by Jiro Yoshihara, Yamazaki visited Yoshihara’s studio to receive instruction. In her early work, she used aluminum and tinplate as a base material and energetically worked on pieces which emphasized the sparkle of the metal.
In the late 1950s, she switched her base to canvas on the advice of Michel Tapié.
In her work, various different forms, such as stripes, circles, and rectangles, are painted on in layers. In particular, in her works from the 1960s, the canvas is filled with so many forms that no blank space can be seen. The majority of the colors used are primary colors, and many colors are used in one work. Her canvases, which were flooded with forms and colors, earned high praise from Tapié, who called them “confusion”.