Nobuaki Takekawa

Nobuaki Takekawa creates a wide array of works ranging from painting to drawing, sculpture and installation art. His works, while based on his personal identity or interests, are also concerned with topics in the vortex of social and political matters. Although these serious and comprehensive issues, which anyone can be involved in, are key themes in his works, the motifs which he selects - such as milk cartons or bad teeth - are rich in his original sense and humor. Therefore, his works are friendly to the viewer as they do not necessarily require prior knowledge of art. Nevertheless, the artist's critical attitude towards the contemporary society and politics is hidden within the contexts of his works. He makes reference to the "Age of Great Voyage" or "Economic History", from the vast history of nature and humankind, in establishing the grand narratives in his work.

While the style of Takekawa's art practice is very fluid, as if inspired by the flow of oceans and waves (important motifs in his work), its basis can be found in his constant research on the orthodox technique of painting, as well as an awareness of the sense of time outside the human world, obtained from his observation of organisms such as cicada, seashell and sea cucumber. With his unique expression born from these roots, Takekawa aims to construct a new relationship between the expression of traditional Western and Asian art by putting aside the old practice of art history.

Sharing Takekawa's multi-faceted views and narratives which involve the sense of time and history, viewers are able to reflect on their own "place and position", in the same way one would read maps (also a significant motif in his work). Such openness is one of the unique qualities of his work.


Biography
1977　Born in Tokyo, Japan
2002　BA in Oil Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025　Cat’s Mine Labour, Ota Fine Arts, Shanghai
2024　Flush With Water, Ota Fine Arts, Singapore
2021　idling garden, Ota Fine Arts, Shanghai
2020　AMIGOS, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo
2017　Cat Olympics: in memory of Torajiro, Ota Fine Arts, Shanghai
2016　Spaceship’s Rearview Mirror, Former Yokota Clinic, Tottori, Japan
2013　We Are Pirates of Uncharted History, Ota Fine Arts, Singapore
2002　Yoshiaki Takekawa, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo

Selected Group Exhibitions
2023　Where the Heart Goes, Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu, China
2022　Pixel Row Vol.2, West Bund Museum, Shanghai
　　　Collection 1: Faraway Places / Nearby Places, The National Museum of Art, Osaka
2020　Yokohama Triennale 2020 - AFTERGLOW, Yokohama
　　　Relay to Tokyo – Inheriting and Gathering, Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens
2019　Roppongi Crossing 2019: Connexions, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
2018　Rebel Without a Cause, Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
2016　Aichi Triennale 2016: Rainbow Caravan, Aichi Arts Center, Aichi
2015　Don’t Follow the Wind, near Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima
2013　12th Biennale de Lyon, Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, France
2012　Real Japanesque: The Unique World of Japanese Contemporary, The National Museum of Art, Osaka

Selected Collections
Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Ford Foundation, U.S.A.
Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Shizuoka
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum, Okinawa (long-term loan)