His artworks were characterised by witty experiments with unconventional materials such as toy cars and signal lights for level crossing.
In 1952, in order to pursue more radical artistic experiments, he founded Zero Society (Zero-kai) with other young members of the Shin Seisaku Association, including Kazuo Shiraga and Saburō Murakami.
[4] During his time as a Gutai member, Kanayama significantly expanded his oeuvre by exploring diverse media and means of artistic expression.
Due to Tanaka's health condition, the couple decided to move to the Myōhōji temple in Osaka for a restful environment.
While the geometric abstraction resembled Piet Mondrian's works, Kanayama's paintings pushed further the exploration of the relationship between positive and negative spaces.
[6] The striking emptiness of the paintings not only directed viewers' attention to the spatial interplay of the white canvases and the dark shapes but also recalled Zen concepts such as 'nothingness' (mu).
At the same time, as the ball was constantly moved by winds and passers-by, the work animated the static modernist geometry by introducing the elements of movement, instability, and unpredictability.
Kanayama also remarked that the work was not only an experiment with physical space but also an attempt to capture the mysterious balance of the celestial bodies.
Over hundreds of metres long, the fabric ran across the pine grove of the park, climbed up trees, and passed through other artworks at the exhibition.
Re-situated in the grove of Ashiya park, the lights signified the changes of natural landscapes brought by industrial developments and urbanisation in post-war Japan.
[2] The work also reflected Kanayama's interest in the rapid development of the transportation system in 1950s Japan and, particularly, in the Kansai region: the Tōkaidō express trains were running on electricity by 1956, and the promotion of Shinkansen first started in 1957.
[9] Reflecting upon the role of artists, these toy car paintings both invoked Surrealist automatic drawing and parodied the legacy of Pollockian Abstract Expressionism.
He then illuminated the balloon with lights in different colour and punctured it with a knife, leaving it to leak air and shrink slowly.
[4] Although the performance showed no vigorous movements, the process of inflating and deflating the balloon underscored the process-based nature of artmaking.
In addition, the changing size and shape of the balloon encouraged the audiences to reconsider the relationship between objects, bodies, and space.
The brochure of 'Gutai on Stage' stated that Kanayama's performance invited viewers to think of the familiar childhood toy, balloon, from a new perspective.
While the glossy surface of these paintings enhances the complexity of their visual effect, Kanayama's extremely smooth and almost invisible brushwork erase traces of the artist's intervention.
In this painting, three vertical blocks in yellow, blue, and red are connected and penetrated by numerous horizontal lines in the same three colours.