Association

The Shozo Shimamoto Association, housed in the eighteenth-century Palazzo Spinelli di Tarsia, Naples, was founded in Italy and Japan in 2007 by Rosanna Chiessi, Laura Montanari, and Giuseppe Morra. It was set up with the aim of promoting and supporting Shozo Shimamoto’s artistic research through the publication of catalogues, videos, and documentaries. The Association would also organize exhibitions and events.
Following the performance Un’arma per la Pace (A Weapon for Peace) held in Naples’ Piazza Dante in 2006, Chiessi and Morra – with Shimamoto’s blessing – created a permanent bridge between East and West. As a result, Shimamoto’s work has become increasingly familiar to international audiences, who today celebrate his work and recognize its great innovative importance.

Shozo Shimamoto, a leading figure in the historic Gutai group, with his spectacular ‘shootings’ of floor and wall surfaces using cannon and bottles of paint, was already well known in Italy in the 1960s thanks to the Notizia Gallery in Turin. The establishment of the Association was the starting point, alongside Shimamoto’s artistic production, for a process of critical and historiographic recognition of his work, as well as the organization and management of his General Archive. The Association is engaged in compiling the artist’s catalogue raisonné and it also permanently oversees the exclusive promotion of events at home and abroad.

The Shozo Shimamoto Association is a permanent space dedicated to showing and studying the work of this great Japanese artist, who died in 2013. Palazzo Tarsia, where the Association has its headquarters, was built by Ferdinando Vincenzo Spinelli, Prince of Tarsia, who commissioned architect Domenico Antonio Vaccaro to rebuild a pre-existing structure in order to create a residence of princely proportions. It would become one of the highest expressions of the Neapolitan rococo. The property remained in the family of the Princes of Tarsia until 1840, after which the palace was divided up and sold to various new owners.

The space represents yet another component of the extensive “Il Quartiere dell’arte” project organized by the Fondazione Morra, which aims to redevelop an entire area close to the historic centre of Naples. The Fondazione also operates the Museo Hermann Nitsch Archivio Laboratorio per le Arti Contemporanee and Casa Morra located in Palazzo Ayerbo D’Aragona Cassano.

Authentication

The Shozo Shimamoto Archive is composed of a group of scholars chosen for their profound knowledge of Shozo Shimamoto’s work and tied to the artist by a relationship of esteem, work and friendship, with the aim of conserving the appreciation and memory of the artist’s work in its creative multiplicity.

For the authentication of artwork it is necessary to send the following to the Shozo Shimamoto Archive:
– 3 color prints (approx. 18×24 cm) of the front of the artwork
– 1 color print (approx. 18×24 cm) of the back of the artwork
– In presence of a signature or autograph inscriptions 1 color print of the detail is required
– Specifications form
– In the case of a request by the Archive of the original artwork, attach the On Show Specifications form

Please also attach the receipt of the successful bank transfer and the fiscal information required for the invoice.
The archive can begin the evaluation of the materials only if it possesses all required documentation.

Download the authentication forms here:

authentication forms