Yutaka Matsuzawa

Yutaka Matsuzawa was born February 2, 1922[1] in Shimosuwa in mountainous central Japan. He grew up during Japan's Fifteen-Year War, which encompassed the Mukden Incident, Second Sino-Japanese War, and Pacific War. Like his peers On Kawara, Yoko Ono, Genpei Akasegawa, and Shusaku Arakawa, his experiences with wartime Japan shaped him as an artist and led him to rejecting the status quo.[2]

He studied architecture from 1943 to 1946 at Waseda University in Tokyo.[3] However, two years after graduating, he gave up architecture, returned to his hometown, and taught math at a high school. It was during this time that he also took up poetry and art.

In 1955, Matsuzawa left Japan to study in the United States on a Fulbright Fellowship, where he studied at Wisconsin State College–Superior (now University of Wisconsin–Superior).[4] Shortly thereafter, he considered going to MIT to study with designer and painter György Kepes but declined the invitation. Instead, in 1956, he moved to New York on a Japan Society fellowship, he studied religion, philosophy, and art history at Columbia University in New York.[4]

While in New York, Matsuzawa encountered the work of Jackson Pollock at the Museum of Modern Art as well as Robert Rauschenberg. He also met with Bauhaus painter I. Rice Pereira and learned of John Cage's work through the publication trans/formation.[5] In 1957, Matsuzawa left New York and returned to Japan.[5]

Matsuzawa died on October 15, 2006.[6]

From his time in New York, Matsuzawa was informed by parapsychology and developed his idea of Psi.[7] Psi derived from psi powers or cognitive abilities beyond the five senses, such as precognition and clairvoyance. He employed this idea in works such as Psi Bird (1959), Meaning of Psi (1960), Psi Altar (1961), Peep into the Psi Tortoise, the Winged Secret Rules (1962), and Invitation to Psi Zashiki Room (1963). These works helped Matsuzawa establish his own sense of conceptualism. By the end of 1963, Matsuzawa gained the nickname Mr. Psi.[8]

From 1964 onward, Matsuzawa became interested in the concept of “kannen.” Kannen means “idea” (as in metaphysics) and “meditative visualization” (as in Pure Land Buddhism).[3][9] This can be seen in his work White Circle (1968),[10] which consisted of a photo with a portion blanked, and viewers were instructed to envision a circle with their eyes closed. In doing so, Matsuzawa sought to eliminate the material aspect of his art, and he relied on viewers’ minds to visualize the invisible aspect of his artwork. This was radical for an artist in Japan at the time, but because Matsuzawa mostly worked in isolation, his work did not receive much attention.[3]

By the 1970s, Matsuzawa shifted his focus away from anti-art concerns, but he maintained an interest in challenging the modern institution of art. His work as a conceptual artist also gained recognition with the increasing awareness of Euro-American conceptual art in Japan.

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