If the limits of language are the limits of the world, how can we show the territory that cannot be told? In this way, my exploration as an artist began.

'There is indeed the inexpressible. This, shows, itself ; it is the mystical.’ (*1)

I define mystery as the world of the mind. It is not the physical world. Hence began the attempt to enter that 'mental world', relying not on the optical seeing, such as the camera, but on the geometric eye. The geometric eye is, in other words, the five organic senses with physicality.

Personal memory, the collective unconscious, or even deeper - these are realms interwoven with psychic energy. I consider color to be the substance of the spirit, a material of the psyche that we, humans living on Earth, can universally sense and is something that acts within existence.

What I aim to reveal throughout my practice is the "bottomless abyss" that lies beyond such spiritual dynamism, or what has been known as "śūnyatā" (emptiness). This too is what I have termed "the abyss of existence." In this realm, there is neither past, present, nor future, nor even death. Color is regarded as the only means by which we can demonstrate this realm. I retreat from painting as a meaning formation and seek to open a new horizon.

In the rapid development of technology, it is very important for each individual to reinstate their trust in the physicality, and I want my work to be a piece of apparatus that works on the space of the spirit within the viewer's body.

I hope that the works capturing the boundless expanses within the human heart may serve as a reflection in this age of division, an era navigating through the rapid development of post-truth.

*1 ) Ludwig Wittgenstain, “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus”,by Routledge (2005) p.187

- 2024.02



<Previous statement>


Since being selected for the 83rd National Exhibition (New National Art Museum, Tokyo, 2009), I have been working with paintings as a source of emergence of unspeakable space.

In my early works, whether figurative or abstract, the bodies, motifs, and symbolic images depicted in the space opened up by the painting were transformed from their traditional locations into a different space. Rather than pursuing pictoriality as a representation of a specific subject, I have sought a pictorial space as a "place" where the representation of an object appears or exists before it begins to form meaning or transmit narrative as a symbol or sign. In this pictorial space, the subject matter is not a symbol or a sign. In that pictorial space, the subject is not given any attributes and at the same time systematically emerges in a polysemic state.

In this way, my interest in the phases of pictorial space developed in conjunction with a metaphysical inquiry into the question, "What is existence?”. In the pictorial space, the individuality and form of something's "being" are not indicated, but the subjective properties that the object or natural phenomenon has generated in the mind through its action on the sensory organs are emerged in a pluralistic sense. Transforming the traces of perception into spatial phases is the experience of the works I create. I do not apply lines to suggest the relationship between objects in the physical world or the configuration of space, but rather place ambiguous and amorphous forms to merge with colored surfaces made from pigments.

Thus, the space created is multifaceted, both from a semiotic and a perspective point of view. There is no division between past, present, and future. My pictorial space is the result of an exploration of the abyss behind existence, and how it is possible to hold it in material form through the luminosity of color.

The work only acts as a starting point from which linguistic meaning begins to be generated in the viewer's consciousness, but rather it represents a place where something can exist in a state prior to the generation of meaning. The work is a place where something can exist in a state prior to the generation of meaning.

In the pictorial space, the individuality and form of something's "being" are not indicated, but the subjective properties that the object or natural phenomenon has generated in the mind through its action on the sensory organs are emerging in a pluralistic sense. I do not apply lines to suggest the relationship between objects in the physical world or the configuration of space, but rather place ambiguous and amorphous forms to merge with colored surfaces made from pigments.

- 2016.12〜2022.12

Towa Takaya creates with her paintings, whichever abstract or figurative, a space in which physicality and relation between materials are presented (not represented) in a different way from the world they usually belong to.  

This space does not have its own meaning. Neither has it depth. In other words, the space she creates is flat, both in terms of semiology and perspective. Besides, neither has it the flow of time; there is no division between past, present and future. Concerning time sequence, the space the painting proposes is also flat.

It does not mean that the space of Towa’s works generates no meanings. Rather, the space creates a flat space in which beholder and the work encounter, and at that time the meaning emerges. In other words, her works have a potential to generate a phenomenological encounter, so that it generates rather than has meanings. That is, only if the space of her works is in contact with the beholders who perceive the world with the sense of time-flow, meaning and story about the works begin to appear. 

In this sense, the space which her paintings generate seems to be “the space of appearance,” in H. Arendt’s terminology. She claims that in the space of appearance

[t]o be alive means to live in a world that preceded one’s own arrival and will survive one’s own departure. On this level of sheer being alive, appearance and disappearance, as they follow upon each other, are the primordial events, which as such mark out time, the time span between birth and death. (H. Arendt, The Life of the Mind)

Towa’s paintings require to be experienced in a space which enables layered spaces to coexist. At the primordial level of experience, the painting is flat, because it is not linked with meaning, space, and time of the “world that preceded one’s own arrival”. However, her painting activates the world at the moment of phenomenological encounter in the space of appearance where appearance of disappearance and disappearance of appearance make sense at once. For instance, while the visual, or substantial, appearance of objects and body on canvas emerges as the disappearance of their usual form, the appearance of the original form of them (in the Aristotelian sense) is proposed as the disappearance of their forms which are con-figured visually and materially. Here, flatness of painting itself and layers of spaces it creates coexist, as it presents appearance with disappearance.

The reason Towa’s works function as such is that they create, or themselves are, the space of appearance, which is flat and simultaneously layered in terms of meaning, time and space. In this way, Towa proposes as paintings the origin of space which enables the phenomenological encounter.

Junya Utsumi

EDUCATION 

Center for Special Information Science in The University of Tokyo 
Cooperative Research Fellow   Jan, 2017- 2019

Goldsmith College, University of London  
BA (Hons), Fine Art      2012-2015

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design , University of Arts London  
Foundation Diploma for Art and Design  2011– 2012

[SOLO EXHIBITION]

SAKURADOKI : works of painting 2020-2023
Venue: AK-4 Gallery
Organized by WHYNOT.TOKYO (Tokyo 、Japan) 
Date：27th March to 3nd April in 2023

JOY AFTER ALL
Venue: LURF MUSEUM (Tokyo, Japan)
 Date: 22nd to 28th March in 2023
exhibition archive

given
Venue: Monkey Galley DAIKANYAMA (Tokyo, Japan)
 Date: 9th to 19th September in 2022

Timelessness
Venue: WHYNOT. TOKYO (Tokyo, Japan)
 Date: 7th to 17th April in 2022


Slowly but Surely
Venue: WHYNOT. TOKYO (Tokyo, Japan)
 Date: 10th to 24th April in 2021


UNTITLDIES
Venue: WHYNOT. TOKYO (Tokyo, Japan)
Date: 16th Jan to 2nd Feb in 2020



Plastic Rendez-vous
Venue: 5th base gallery (London, England) 2014
Date：16th to 21st Dec in 2014 


Either me or you 
Sponsored by Jun Atsushi & Kaoru Ichikawa Fine Art (Tokyo, Japan) 
Date：7th - 21st Sep in 2014   


 The One 
Venue: Jun Atsushi & Kaoru Ichikawa Fine Art (Mie, Japan )  
Dates：14th to 21st July in 2013   

[ART FAIR]

ART SHOW GINZA ONBEATx MITSUKOSHI
Venue: Ginza Mitsukoshi (Tokyo, JAPAN)
会期: 1st to 6th November in 2023.

ART MARKET TENNOZ 2023
Venue: WHAT CAFE (Tokyo, JAPAN)
Date: 3rd to 5th March in 2023.

Fine Art collection
Venue:  Matsuzakaya Nagoya (Nagoya, Japan)
Date: 15th December to 20th December in 2022

ASYAAF&Hidden Artists Festival
Gallery: Gallery LVS
Venue: Seoul Hongik Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea)
Date: 26th July to 21st August in 2022

ART FAIR TOKYO 2019
Organizer: General Incorporated Association Art Fair Tokyo
Supported by: Kobayashi Gallery, Inc
Featured artists: Izumi Akiyama, Sei Shibusawa, Chihiro Tanaka, Taniho Reina, Rina Yokyama, Takeshi Tanaka, Towa Takaya

Venue；Tokyo International Forum　
Date: 7th March to 10th March, 2019
Official website：https://artfairtokyo.com/2019/overview

[GROUP EXHIBITION]

Arcus Pride Art Exhibition 2023
Organizer: Clifford Chance International Law farm
Date: 29th Jun in 2023
Venue: Clifford Chance International Law-farm Tokyo 
Adress: Tokyo Palace Building, 3rd floor 1-1, Marunouchi 1-chome. Chiyoda-ku. Tokyo


Early Summer Breeze
Venue: Kobayashi gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Date: 10th to 20th May in 2023
Adress: 3F 1-15-13 Shiba Minato-ku Tokyo JAPAN


ONBEAT Art show
Organizer: Onbeat Magazine
Venue: Contemporary art gallery at Hankyu Mens Osaka (Osaka, Japan)
Date: 17th to 21st May in 2023
Adress: 7-10 Kakuda-cho, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka

ART is ... vol.26
Organizer: WHAT CAFE
Date: 29th April to 21st May in 2023
Adress: 2-1-11 Higashi Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo

Chroma Distance
Venue:  POLA MUSEUM ANNEX (Tokyo, Japan)
Organiser: POLA MUSEUM ANNEX
Collaboration: TRiCERA, Inc
Date: 20th January to 5th February in 2023


Spiral Xmas Market -Part3
Venue:  Spiral, Wacoal Art Center (Tokyo, Japan)
Date: 20th December to 25th December in 2022

diverse paintings
Venue:  Seibu Shibuya Art Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
Date: 27th September to 10th October in 2022

WHAT CAFE × WHYNOT.TOKYO EXHIBITION

Organizer: WHYNOT.TOKYO
Venue: WHAT CAFE (Tokyo, Japan)
Date: 5th to 21st August in 2022

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗢𝗧𝗦

Venue: Gallery AZUR (Berlin, Germany)
Date: 22nd July to 16th August in 2022

 
SUMMER STAGE

Venue: Hertz Art Lab (Tokyo, Japan)
Date: 19th to 31st July in 2022

Exhibition by WHAT CAFE in association with 4 Galleries -CROSSROADS-

Organizer: WAREHOUSE TERRADA
Venue: WHAT CAFE (Tokyo, Japan)
Date: 5th to 23rd March in 2022
Virtual exhibition URL: visit the virtual exhibition





Arcus Pride Art Exhibition 2021

Organizer: Clifford Chance International Law farm
Venue: Virtual exhibition
Virtual exhibition URL: visit the virtual exhibition
Featured artists: Dan Bailey, Saka Matsushita, NARI, Shun Sudo, Towa Takaya and Kojin Toneyama.

Things may or may not be useful but beautiful

Organizer: SUPER PLANNING CO.,LTD
Venue: Monkey Galley DAIKANYAMA (Tokyo, Japan)
Date: 1st Feb to 11th Feb in 2020 


How Tokyo Biennale ?

Organizer: General Incorporated Association Tokyo Biennale
Venue: 3331 Arts Chiyoda
Adress: 6-11-14, Higashikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
Date: 14th Oct to 4th Nov in 2019 
Official website https://tokyobiennale.jp/2019pre-event/venue1/

Arcus Pride Art Exhibition 2019

Organizer: Clifford Chance International Law farm
Support: JP Morgan Japan
Date: 28th Jun in 2019
Venue: JP Morgan Tokyo brunch
Adress: Tokyo Building, 7-3, Marunouchi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 100-6432

Arcus Pride Art Exhibition

Organizer: Clifford Chance International Law farm
Date: 27th Jun  in 2019
Venue: Clifford Chance International Law-farm Tokyo 
Adress: Tokyo Palace Building, 3rd floor 1-1, Marunouchi 1-chome. Chiyoda-ku. Tokyo 100-0005

 


Smile of Flowers 

Organizer: Kobayashi Gallery, Inc
Featured artists: Izumi Akiyama, Luzia Shimons, Towa Takaya, Reina Taniho.
Date: 27th Nov to 8th Dec 2018
Venue: Kobayashi Gallery
Adress; 3F, 1-15-13,Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN  

Sven Fresher Green

Organizer: Kobayashi Gallery, Inc
Featured artists: Izumi Akiyama, Takeshi Tanaka, Sei Shibusawa, Towa Takaya, Rina Yokouchi, Chisato Tanaka.
Date: 15th to 25th May 2018
Venue: Kobayashi Gallery
Adress; 3F, 1-15-13,Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN  

Enter

Curation: Jyunya Utsumi 
Venue:Tokyo University of the Arts (Exhibition Room,  Faculty of Music)
Date: 6th -9th Dec 2017 
Featured artists: Jyuri Akiyama, Towa Takaya
Adress:12-8 Ueno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN 110-8714

 

Wework x Creative Debuts 

Organizer: Creative Debuts 
Venue: Wework at Devonshire Square (London,UK) 
Date: 25th April 2016 -

Oliver Agency x Creative Debuts 

Organizer: Creative Debuts 
Venue: Oliver Agency (Shoreditch, London, UK)
Date: 25th April 2016 -

ON the THRESHOLD II: Formal Presence

Venue: Oriental Museum
Date: 29th Jan to 20th May 2016
https://www.dur.ac.uk/oriental.museum/

ON the THRESHOLD

Venue: Oriental Museum/ Teikyo University DURHAM (Durham, UK)
Date: 10th to 15th Nov 2015
https://www.dur.ac.uk/oriental.museum/whatson/details/?id=27959

Hoxton Hotel x Creative Debuts 

Organizer: Creative Debuts
Venue: Hoxton Gallery in Hoxton Hotel Holborn (London, UK) 
Date: 6th October 2015- 6th January 2016

https://hoxtown.com/events/hoxtown-gallery-presents-creative-debuts

GOLDSMITHS, UNIVERSITY of LONDON

Graduates Exhibition curated by VJB Arts,
Organizer and curation : VJB Arts http://vjbarts.com/
Venue: 10 Gresham Street, (London, UK) 
Date: Sep in 2015 to Jan in 2016

Creative Debuts Showcase VIII  (Whitechapel Gallery's First Thursday)

Organizer: Creative Debuts
Venue: Black and White building (London, UK) 2015

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/first-thursdays/galleries/creative-debuts-x-black-white-building/

GOLDSMITHS DEGREE SHOW 2015

Goldsmiths, University of London (London, UK)
Date: 18th to 22rd June in 2015
Venue: Ben Pimlott Building. And St. James Church, New Cross Road, Goldsmiths, New Cross, London SE14 6AD.

RAW TALENT 2014 

Organizer: We.Create International 
Venue: Dalston Department Store project space  (London, UK)
Date: 26th to 29th June in 2014

ART KAMEYAMA 2012  

Organizer: Kameyama Triennale Committee
Venue: Shiboriya, Kameyama Higashi shopping street (Mie, Japan)  2012
Date: 28th Oct to 4th Nov in 2012 

Painting Show                              

Central Saint Martins College of Art (London, UK)  2012
Venue:  Back Hill. 10 Back Hill, London, EC1R 5EN, UK

Informania 

Support: Keio University Art Center
Venue: Keio Raiousya Gallery  (Kanagawa, Japan)   
Date: 6th to 15th Dec 2010

 [FILM FESTIVAL]

Maebashi Film Festival 2016

Organizer: Maebashi Film Festival Execution Committee
Date: 11th and 12th Nov 2016 (Maebashi, Japan)

[COLLABORATION]

Shiseido MIRAI Technology institute x TOWA TAKAYA
Joint research (Ongoing project)

ARC x TOWA TAKAYA

live performance for VR painting @ NTT docomo Ventures,（Tokyo, Japan）
Organizer: ARC
Date: 22nd March 2017
Technical assistance: Nano media 
Support: NTT docomo Ventures

[WORKSHOP/ LECTURES]

TUNAGARI Project -Picture Happiness on Earth-

Venue; National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan)
Event website: https://www.miraikan.jst.go.jp/sp/picture_happiness/

Art x Ecology x Japan

Online webiner (Participated as aft for all )
This talk series is hosted by Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in partnership with art for all, and organised by Yoi Kawakubo, Keiko Koshihara, Towa Takaya and Haruna Takeda.
About webiner: https://dajf.org.uk/event/art-x-ecology-x-japan


[AWARD]

Young Creators Award 2017 

Organizer: MI Gallery
Venue: 1st Floor, 1-2-23, Nishitenman, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0047
Date: 14th-31st Oct, 2017 (Osaka, Japan)    

83rd KOKUTEN                                   

Venue: THE NATIONAL ART CENTER, TOKYO (Tokyo, Japan) 
Date : 29th April to 11th May in 2009
Organizer: KOKUGAKAI
Supporter: NHK Public Welfare Organization