Kazuo Shirakawa (1924–2008), born in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, was a leading painter of post-war Japanese avant-garde art. As a key artist in the Gutai Art Association, he established a unique method of painting: spreading paint across a canvas placed on the floor whilst holding onto a rope suspended from the ceiling and painting barefoot. He was an artist who imprinted the very movements of his body directly onto his paintings.

His works possess a power that allows the viewer to relive the movement of the moment he was painting, rather than simply observing a finished form. The momentum of his body remains in the smeared paint and the scraped marks, where chance and intention intersect fiercely. Within this rawness lies a uniquely beautiful rhythm.