In 1954 Japanese painter, art educator and promoter of the arts Jiro Yoshihara co-founded the Gutai Bijutsu Kyōkai (Gutai Art Association).
Gutai members, including Yoshihara himself, explored radical experimental methods of production and presentation, mixed art and life, went beyond the borders of existing art, and encouraged artists to create innovative works never done before rather than imitating artists from the past, finding new beginnings to put the horrors of the war behind them.
Gutai explored radical experimental approaches, including outdoor exhibitions and new strategies to communicate internationally: the group considered indeed cultural and geographical distance as an inspiration to ponder about new forms of expression and think about materials and problems of representation.
In occasion of The International Sky Festival in Osaka (1960), for example, Gutai asked artists abroad to submit sketches, rather than sending heavy artworks as shipping expenses would have been extremely high. The members of the group then enlarged the sketches and transferred them onto banners suspended from large, tethered helium balloons in the sky. In this way the sketches were transformed into portable and concept-based art and also represented concrete interpretations of freedom. 
Jiro Yoshihara is one of the inspirations behind Nina Donis' S/S 22 collection and, in a way, you can see in the work of the Russian-Cypriot duo Gutai's modus operandi, that yearning for concreteness that is still capable of preserving a degree of conceptual integrity.
In their collections Nina Neretina and Donis Pouppis always try to think about ways to create wearable concept-based designs that, thanks to bold colours and patterns combinations, travel well through different cultures and, while referencing specific artists, music or films, can easily be integrated in any wardrobe. 
In the case of their latest collection, Nina Donis included in their moodboard wild flowers, herbariums, the style of elderly people and the attire of fishermen.
The result is a basic collection of light separates, shorts, shirts, and skirts, plus dresses, and light trench coats in a palette of white, blue, black, red, green and beige.
In their previous Spring/Summer collection, the duo referenced uniforms and PPE, after all personal protective equipment has been one of the protagonists of the last year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Probably lockdowns and Covid isolation played a part in the pyjama tops included in this collection, yet they are sprinkled with colourful fabric poppies to symbolize a delicate Renaissance, a yearning for nature that can save us from modern technological anxieties.
The basic yet versatile collection represents therefore a concrete interpretation of freedom, and it is the perfect palate cleanser to start the year with new energy and hopes, and with a heart as light as Gutai's balloons (View this photo).
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