[Audio Guide]
A wall appears before us, with many things happening within its shallow space. For example, in the middle of the picture, around a horizontal line, there is another small landscape, in which the near and the far coexist. It is as if the artist, who grew up in postwar Tokyo, has compressed the scenery he witnessed as the city rose up from burnt-out ruins. Hitsuda studied painting in the 1960s, but left production to work for the public broadcaster NHK, where he was amazed by the craftsmanship of stage design staff who easily reproduced the texture of concrete blocks using paint. The gray grid pattern on this canvas is rooted in familiar experiences and landscapes. Hitsuda incorporated the foiling techniques of traditional Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) and the minimalist style of late 20th century art, and reestablished them as part of his own painting style. In 1975, the year he produced this work, Hitsuda took a teaching position at an art university in Aichi. This period marked a turning point in his life.
