Yuko Nasaka

Yuko Nasaka (名坂有子, Nasako Yuko, born 1938) is a Japanese avant-garde artist who is known for her involvement with the Gutai Art Association.

Early life and education: 1938–53 Yuko Nasaka was born in Konohana-ku, Osaka, Japan in 1938. Nasaka was the second daughter to parents, Yogashige Takeda and Matsue Takeda, who had six children. Nasaka started to paint at the age of three. Her teacher hung one of her first pictures on the glass walls inside the school, which was of "a self-righting doll made out of celluloid". When Nasaka was six years old, her family moved to Takarazuka in Hyōgo Prefecture. She began oil painting in her early teens while she attended Osaka Municipal Utashima Junior High School. In 1953, Nasaka entered Osaka Prefectural Ichioka High School, and was invested in the school's art club—Kaoide Group. The school emphasized the visual arts, and bore alumni such as noted Japanese painter Narashige Koide. Additionally, another artist associated with the school is Senkichiro Nasaka—Yuko's eventual spouse, who was once a teacher at Osaka Prefectural Ichioka High School.

Early work: 1956–59 Nasaka matriculated at Osaka Shoin Women's University in 1956. While at university, she enrolled in the two-year "Daily Life" course—a home economics course that focused on hygiene, domestic efficacy, and soap making. Nasaka gained sizable recognition after winning the Ashiya Mayor's Prize in 1962. In 1964, Nasaka put on a solo show at the Gutai Pinacotheca, in which she expanded her work to a larger school by completely covering an entire wall with a grid of proliferating concentric circles. Nasaka was featured in the April 1965 Issue of Art International, was asked to be a judge for the Ibaraki exhibition, and showed her work in the Female Artists' Association exhibition. Nasaka went on a hiatus and did not create art for two decades. However, in the 2000s she began creating artwork again, and held solo exhibitions in 2014 in Tokyo, and in 2015 in Antwerp, Belgium.

Overview of work Nasaka's later body of work featured concentric circles manifested through reliefs. She grounded her practices through technological experimentation and used innovative industrial materials for her time. Nasaka's process involved the use of a rotating plate, a tool that was handmade for her. The tool resembles an electric pottery wheel combined with a turntable. She then used resin cement to create circular patterns, and then airbrushes the circles with resin and lacquer. No panel is the same, as each piece denotes a different sphere, color or texture. Ultimately, Nasaka places each panel side by side, and fits them into a grid like formation, expanding the grid so fully that it covers an entire wall akin to that of a mural. The expansion of concentric circles creates an effect of infinite space. Nasaka achieves the effect of four-dimensional space through her concentric circle constructions of varying heights, layering, depths, and textures. Her methods of using non-art materials adhere to Gutai's ethos of experimenting with technologically advanced materials and techniques.

Work shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum In 2013, Nasaka's piece Work (1960) was featured in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's exhibit: Gutai: Splendid Playground. Work (1960) is from Nasaka's concentric circle series, and exemplifies Naska's concern for the relationship between industrialization and humanity. She juxtaposed these ironic notions together to question the direction of humanity, particularly given the circumstances of burgeoning industry and technology. Yet, when examined closely, one can see Nasaka's touch. Her intricate carvings demonstrate a sense of unpredictability and betray the illusion of machine-like perfection from afar.