From the early 1960s to the early 1970s, Takesada Matsutani was a key member of the ‘second generation’ of the Gutai Art Association (1954–1972), Japan’s innovative and influential art collective of the postwar era.

One of the most important Japanese artists working today, Matsutani’s paintings and performances from throughout his practice demonstrate the ethos of Gutai, translated into an artistic language that is uniquely his own.

This publication is the most complete one available on Matsutani’s practice: it gathers together rare archival photographs, an interview with the artist by Tsutomu Mizusawa and Sawako Inaniwa, curators of The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura and Hayama; and texts by Kate van Houten, Midori Nishizawa and Ming Tiampo, co-curator of Gutai: Splendid Playground at the Guggenheim Museum, New York (2013).

This comprehensive monograph is published on the occasion of the exhibition Takesada Matsutani: A Matrix at Hauser & Wirth, London curated by Midori Nishizawa.