Takako Hojo participated in VOCA (The Vision of Contemporary Art) exhibition in 2004, was invited to join the residence program of the Ohara Museum of Art in 2006, and continues to garner attention. Hojo worked with abstract styles earlier on, but then used her time with the Ohara Museum of Art to move into representational landscapes. In the last few years, she has progressively changed her painting style, using these same landscapes as motifs. After spending two months as artist-in-residence in 2006, Hojo made the surrounding abundance of nature her central theme, and since then, the way she depicts light has been very striking. An examination of her recent works reveals that rather than nature and landscape, the central theme she addresses seems to be light, with what appear to be grains of light filling the picture. As the artist has expressed in her own words, one can feel, in her work, an outpouring of invisible light that seems to surge from nature and life.

Is this invisible light perhaps the air? Or is the artist conveying life? From Hojo’s interests and the manner by which she paints, it would seem that her central theme has shifted to landscapes, but she has actually shifted to the depiction of things that cannot be seen, which is consistent with her earlier work in abstract styles. Rather than being a window depicting scenery, Hojo’s canvas, through the filter of her sensibilities, makes the viewer feel that the landscape or nature is a completely different “work of art.” Standing in front of her artwork, one can certainly feel something atmospheric, brightly shimmering and diffusing from it. Please take the opportunity at this exhibition to pause in front of and take in the work of Takako Hojo. You might be able to feel the air that lies between viewer and artwork, and the landscape depicted.