When Shiraga came down from the mountain (where he was practicing as a Buddhist monk, obviously) his painting became more happy-excited.

Possibly the result of an existential crisis over the death of his frenemy Jiro Yoshihara which pulled Shiraga back to earth, or maybe some sort of mountain-top secret fountain of energy, or perhaps the power of prayer. It just seems wrong for an abstract artist to not be twisted in the throes of depression, manic episodes, or drug abuse doesn’t it?

Yoshihara once said Shiraga was “nobody if he didn’t paint with his feet.” Which probably made Shigara sad, I would be. On top of being plain old hurtful, painting with his feet was Shiraga’s way of practicing Yoshihara’s own mantra to never imitate or recreate. Karma must have decided that Yoshihara was in fact being unfair, vindicating Shiraga with his friend’s death. You’re welcome?

Shiraga finished Imayo Ranbu in 2000 so the excitement could be about Y2K not actually happening. It would have been v dark if the universe had decided to start Shiraga’s career with an atomic bomb and stop it with an atomic clock...instead everything was fine!

His early art started with true, gory violence: fighting the earth itself, painting red over boarskin canvases, and with his fingernails. Then he said, “after [that] intense period of experiments” he was very tired and an art critic told him it would be easier to just paint on canvas and make some money. Perhaps it just took Shiraga 40 years to get his creative energy back and instead of angry violent energy he got some positive energy in his second wind.

Whatever the cause, Imayo Ranbu has an undeniable joie de vivre, which Shiraga himself attributed simply to moving around. He said, “This act of painting with my feet feels very important to me…I felt cheered, happy, exhilarated.” Queue the hip tumblr quotephoto post, Shiraga has some decidedly good vibes going on.

Good news for Shiraga’s heirs, millennials love good vibes and art snobs everywhere are double-dipping on “Shiraga-mania.” Still, even 21st century curators seem to respect the Yoshihar/Shiraga beef, keeping their paintings in separate galleries and letting the boys fight it out beyond the grave.