Jiro Takamatsu

Jiro Takamatsu (1936-98) is central to the development of post-war art in Japan. He expanded points into volume, brought sculptural actions into the life of the city, and made shadows and perspective tangible. 'The Temperature of Sculpture' is the first institutional solo exhibition of Takamatsu outside of his home country, presenting over seventy works made between 1961 and 1977. Takamatsu sought out the interplay between presence and absence, carefully thinking through relationships between artwork and its perceiver. He turned to sculpture in 1961, applying sculptural thinking to see how objects might change their temperature .The materials Takamatsu chose were always ready at hand. Sometimes they were tangible - everyday objects such as bottles, cloth, string, stones or furniture. Other times they had a strong association to sculptural traditions - such as marble, wood, concrete and iron. Significantly, he made use of intangible properties - perspective, shadows and numbers. These he made material and metaphorical in objects, events and drawings, giving form to the imponderables of space and time. Exhibition: Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK (13.07. - 22.10.2017).