Ushio Shinohara

Last weekend I had the chance to see Ushio Shinohara’s performance in the Fine Arts Building Rotunda.  It just so happened that I was walking by right before it started, remembered seeing the artist’s work in the Dorsky Museum, and stopped in. I did not get to hear much of the introduction but I was able to see him in action. Shinohara’s performance was definitely exciting as he strapped on boxing gloves, towels lumped on the ends, dipped them in paint, and began to box the canvas. With each jab he worked his way across the wall, creating a quite dynamic composition.  Each hit created a circle on impact, a splash effect, and dripping paint. Shinohara’s performance encompassed not only the physicality of the body in making but a definite element of chance. Although he purposefully planted his fist on the canvas the artist had no control over where the paint would go from there.  Reading further about Shinohara I discovered that he began making these paintings in 1961 and became renowned for giving exciting meaning to the term “action painting.” He also known for his works in found object sculpture and assemblage and is encompassed as part of the Neo Dada movement.
After seeing the performance last weekend I began thinking about the unique ways that Shinohara was making mark. How he successfully combines the art of boxing with the visual arts. Along with this, his paintings become a very labor intensive and physical. I thought about how I might be able to explore these concepts in my own making along with how students can be thinking about these ideas. How exciting would it be to do a lesson in reference to Shinohara’s “action painting?” As I develop my unit plan on “mark making” I hope to utilize the ideas of this artist. I aim to emphasize his unusual technique and painting by chance which give a unique perspective to ideas about what it means to make a mark in terms of the visual arts.