Johyun Gallery will hold representative Japanese artist, Aya Takano’s first solo exhibition in Korea from October 2nd, 2015 through to November 8th. The 15 works that will be exhibited are especially created based on the inspiration Takano had during her stay in Busan last year. Works range in varying sizes, with one piece that is 2m by 6m.
Aya Takano was the first assistant of Japanese Pop artist Murakami Takashi, as well as being an exclusive artist of KaiKai KiKi, Japan and Perrotin Gallery, France. Starting her first solo exhibition in Europe, 2002, she began to gain the attentions of collectors worldwide. The center of Takano’s work revolves around Manga, Science Fiction, a slight quantity of eroticism and an altered Japonism. The motifs of her work are mostly of youth girls, with an element of Pop illustration, Eroticism and grotesqueness. Takano has also been appraised for her ability to process the cultural richness of post war Japan and sophistications into one.
Aya Takano spent her early childhood reading in her father's library, which consisted of many books on natural sciences and science fiction. Exotic animals and landforms combined with an urban city are common themes in her artwork, and are intended to show the juxtaposition between future and fantasy. Takano states that sometimes even now she imagines possessing the ability to fly and is uninterested in the constrictions of being grounded. Osamu Tezuka's science fiction was another early influence in Takano's life, and had a lasting impact on her dreamy perception of the world. Aya Takano is known for being a Superflat artist, where the basic concept of Superflat is about emphasizing the two dimensionality of figures. The Superflat style is mainly influenced by Japanese manga and anime, while dually exposing the fetishes of Japanese consumerism. In turn, Takano has had a big impact from style and philosophy of Manga anime.
The figures that appear in her work usually drift in a virtual world, where their characteristics are mostly androgynous, and often emerge either partially clothed or fully naked. Such imagery conveys the yearning for creation and a freely orientated view of the world. Takano denies that she is trying to reveal anything specific about sex, but rather, with the slim bodies, bulbous heads, and large eyes, she is trying to emphasize her figures' temporary suspension from adulthood; the redness on the figures' joints, such as the elbows, knees, and shoulders, is supposed to convey that they are still engaged in the growing process, mentally and physically. But beginning from 2011, when the 3.11 earthquake struck Japan, Takano divulges into a new path. In the past, the main character of her works had the tendency to convey the sense that they were trapped in their own world. However, after the earthquake, there was a lot more humaneness from her works, as well as much more mythical aspects. There have also been changes to the materials and techniques of her works. Whilst she often used Acrylic paint, after the earthquake she began to use organic materials such as hemp oil vegetable dyes.
The 15 pieces that will be shown in this exhibition display her unique sense of richness, delicacy and tone of colour. Her technique has developed into a form of Fresco technique which delivers a much lighter tone and filled with more fantasy. The main exhibition hall in he 2n floor will house a 2m (Vertical) x 6m (Horizontal) painting, as well as other considerably big, faerie works. The 3rd floor will hosue 7 drawings and 2 paintings of a similar concept.
Takano has gained inspirations from 14th century religious Italian paintings, remains of aliens and MTV, which allowed her to establish a future orientated mindset. Her feministic perspective, her comical, yet ambiguous fantasy of the future enables her to create her own mythologies free from the chain of reality. With a supernatural foundation, her works are stained in her feministic desires, the constantly changing ecological fantasies, her stroke of brilliance and freedom. Through this exhibition we wish to share present stage of Japanese contemporary art, as well as the mythical supernatural world that Aya Takano forged and leads.
