To Martha's Memory 1970

Jiro Yoshihara made "To Martha's Memory" using oil on canvas. Yoshihara’s paintings often feature circles, but these were by no means mechanically precise. The brushstrokes have a hand-wrought, intuitive feel. In his practice, there's an emphasis on the trace of the hand, the imperfection of the form. Yoshihara’s approach was deeply influenced by the Gutai group, a radical art collective founded in Japan after World War II, who were interested in elemental gestures and the qualities of raw materials. In "To Martha’s Memory," the white circle against a black background is reminiscent of calligraphy, bringing with it a performative element that values spontaneity, energy, and the movement of the body. Yoshihara sought to break away from traditional artistic constraints by foregrounding process, emphasizing the importance of both material presence and the artist's act of creation.