Gutai art association

Led by Osaka-based artist Yiro Yoshihara,it was an avant-garde art movement begun in 1955 to "create the kinds of artwork never seen before." The Japanese word "gutai" means 'concrete' or embodiment', and the method involved the artist's body being a direct part of the medium while creating the work---such as Kazuo Shiraga rolling in clay or the concrete subsequently used in his work of art. This activity was the major experimental postwar Japanese art movement, and Gutai artists including founder Jiro Yoshihara were pioneers in carrying out "happenings"and "performance art", which became popular in Europe and America. Source: Wikipedia; Museum of Modern Art, New York; AskART biography of Kazuo Shiraga.