Kuwayama created TK7549-61 (1961) only two years after he began his career in New York. This work
encapsulates the transitional period of the young artist as he began to turn away from nihonga and commit his
practice fully to exploring the new avant-garde sensibility emerging in the artist circles that he was active
amongst. Layering strips of paper horizontally across the board, Kuwayama created subtle breaks in the vertical
composition that diffuse the viewer’s eye from the stark contrast of the aluminum strip that seems to almost split
the piece in two. Following the recommendations of close artist friends such as Sam Francis, Kuwayama had
begun to turn to acrylics at this time— for this piece, he combined acrylic paint with dry pigment. This
combination created an emanative, velvety effect with the paint, resulting in a very distinctive surface quality.

The early aesthetic decisions that can be observed in TK7549-61 highlight Kuwayama’s interest in
experimenting with materials and painting outside of history. Viewers must consider the various shifts in the
painting’s surface and texture when viewing it in the exhibition space—in this way, the piece reckons with
materiality itself. This is the first time TK7549-61 has been exhibited.

“Ideas, thoughts, philosophy, reasons, meanings, even the humanity of the artist, do not enter into my work at
all. There is only the art itself. That is all.”
Kuwayama’s statement for Art in America New Talent USA (1964)