Aya Takano
23 Jun - 28 Jul 2012
AYA TAKANO
To Lose Is To Gain
23 June - 28 July 2012
Galerie Perrotin, Paris is presenting a solo show of Aya Takano, “To Lose Is To Gain” from 23rd June to 28th July 2012 bringing together a new series of paintings in rectangular and diamond shapes, all inspired by the earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011.
Painter, artist, creator of Mangas and author of science-fiction novels, Takano belongs to the Kaikai Kiki artistic production studio created by Takashi Murakami in 2001. We find surprising and sundry references in her paintings : Italian Renaissance, animes, art from the world of Ukiyo-e (Hokusai for example), particularly that of Shunga and the erotic prints in her work.
Slender child-women, often naked, inhabit her half fantastic, half real universe and more rarely, feminised masculine characters. These mutant-like figures with oversized eyes and elongated legs dally in amorous scenes and improbable encounters with mythical animals in lunar landscapes and urban settings. Her colours are always delicate and shaded, the surface and chromatic richness of her paintings at times recalling fresco techniques.
As the artist explains, “When I first began work on this collection of images, only a few months separated me from the events of 3.11. Overwhelmed by the breadth of the shock, I was virtually unable to think or paint, but I tried, in the midst of that confusion, to focus on the path down which Japan had come and the future to which it was moving. It is this which I have painted and the images are special ones that could only have come from such a chaotic time.”
The small diamond shaped paintings literally float in the same space as the monumental canvasses. The works are gathered around three themes: past, present and future. Paintings such as “Past: at the soshimai In shin-yoshiwara”, 2011, which represents intimate scenes tied to the traditional image of Japan, as well as episodes of violence resulting from the recent history of the country, belong to the first group of works. On the contrary, in paintings like “Present” 2011, we see frightening scenes that are bizarrely connected to dreamlike visions. Finally, as is often the case in her works, Takano imagines an upside down world where cities and their inhabitants are not subject to the laws of gravity and roam freely in futuristic galaxies (“Future: with their foundations in outer-space, metropolises float in mid-air”, 2011 and “Future: cities shaped like internal organs and cubic vehicles”, 2011)
To Lose Is To Gain
23 June - 28 July 2012
Galerie Perrotin, Paris is presenting a solo show of Aya Takano, “To Lose Is To Gain” from 23rd June to 28th July 2012 bringing together a new series of paintings in rectangular and diamond shapes, all inspired by the earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011.
Painter, artist, creator of Mangas and author of science-fiction novels, Takano belongs to the Kaikai Kiki artistic production studio created by Takashi Murakami in 2001. We find surprising and sundry references in her paintings : Italian Renaissance, animes, art from the world of Ukiyo-e (Hokusai for example), particularly that of Shunga and the erotic prints in her work.
Slender child-women, often naked, inhabit her half fantastic, half real universe and more rarely, feminised masculine characters. These mutant-like figures with oversized eyes and elongated legs dally in amorous scenes and improbable encounters with mythical animals in lunar landscapes and urban settings. Her colours are always delicate and shaded, the surface and chromatic richness of her paintings at times recalling fresco techniques.
As the artist explains, “When I first began work on this collection of images, only a few months separated me from the events of 3.11. Overwhelmed by the breadth of the shock, I was virtually unable to think or paint, but I tried, in the midst of that confusion, to focus on the path down which Japan had come and the future to which it was moving. It is this which I have painted and the images are special ones that could only have come from such a chaotic time.”
The small diamond shaped paintings literally float in the same space as the monumental canvasses. The works are gathered around three themes: past, present and future. Paintings such as “Past: at the soshimai In shin-yoshiwara”, 2011, which represents intimate scenes tied to the traditional image of Japan, as well as episodes of violence resulting from the recent history of the country, belong to the first group of works. On the contrary, in paintings like “Present” 2011, we see frightening scenes that are bizarrely connected to dreamlike visions. Finally, as is often the case in her works, Takano imagines an upside down world where cities and their inhabitants are not subject to the laws of gravity and roam freely in futuristic galaxies (“Future: with their foundations in outer-space, metropolises float in mid-air”, 2011 and “Future: cities shaped like internal organs and cubic vehicles”, 2011)