This early drawing bears a relationship to Shimamoto’s Holes series of paintings, begun around the same time, in which the artist would glue layers of paper together and wear or puncture holes into their surfaces. Although it predates the foundation of the legendary Gutai Art Association, the same concepts that inspired Shimamoto’s later, more dramatic work apply to this drawing. The artist is handling materials not as instruments for pictorial representation, but as evidence of artistic action. The work constitutes an event resulting from the interaction between artist and material, made visible on the worn paper.

Excerpt from

Anna Katherine Brodbeck, ed., TWO X TWO X TWENTY: Two Decades Supporting Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art), 2018, 170.