The Gutai Art Association is a group founded in 1954 by Hyogo Prefecture painter Jiro Yoshihara and the young artists who gathered around him. They produced works based on the idea of ​​"don't copy others, create something that has never been done before," and they also responded to the new art movements that were happening in America and Europe at the same time. As stated in the Gutai Art Manifesto published in 1956, the Gutai Art Association (hereafter Gutai) is strongly conscious of the idea of ​​confronting materials as they are (the concept of concrete).

In a lecture he gave during the exhibition "Gutai: Action and Painting" at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art in 1986, Gutai member Sadamasa Motonaga explained what kind of group Gutai was with the following story:

"For example, let's say there is a painting of an apple. No matter how well it is painted, it will never be an edible apple. In other words, it is not an apple but an illusion. So what is a painting? It is a substance made up of chemical materials such as paint, cloth called canvas, and materials such as wood. Our group is always thinking about what we can do with these substances."

Based on these new concepts, the young artists of Gutai each worked independently, experimenting and competing with each other to establish unique, never-before-seen methods of expression.

This time, the exhibition features works by three artists from Gutai's second generation, who joined the group around the time it shifted its focus to painting.