BIOGRAPHY
Towa Takaya
Contemporary artist, painter
Born in Tokyo in 1992. Having graduated from the Fine Art department, Goldsmiths, University of London in 2016, and currently based in Tokyo.
Born 1992, Tokyo. Graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London and currently based in Tokyo. Takaya creates her works using self-made pigments derived from soils, plants, and cosmetic ingredients from both domestic and international origins. The exploration of delicate color spectrums and the rich gradations weave a unique depth that invites viewers into a spiritual space detached from everyday life.
Since 2019, she has been running WHYNOT, rooted as an artist-run space and currently becoming a network project aimed at promoting exchanges among artists and individuals in the field of art. On an ongoing basis as a project, she works on solidarity and community building through art.
Artist statement
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
Introducing the artist
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
CV
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 2020-2023Venue: AK-4 Gallery Organized by WHYNOT.TOKYO (Tokyo 、Japan) Date:27th March to 3nd April in 2023JOY AFTER ALLVenue: LURF MUSEUM (Tokyo, Japan) Date: 22nd to 28th March in 2023exhibition archivegiven 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 2022Slowly but Surely Venue: WHYNOT. TOKYO (Tokyo, Japan) Date: 10th to 24th April in 2021UNTITLDIESVenue: WHYNOT. TOKYO (Tokyo, Japan)Date: 16th Jan to 2nd Feb in 2020Plastic Rendez-vousVenue: 5th base gallery (London, England) 2014Date: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 MITSUKOSHIVenue: Ginza Mitsukoshi (Tokyo, JAPAN)会期: 1st to 6th November in 2023.ART MARKET TENNOZ 2023Venue: WHAT CAFE (Tokyo, JAPAN)Date: 3rd to 5th March in 2023.Fine Art collectionVenue: Matsuzakaya Nagoya (Nagoya, Japan)Date: 15th December to 20th December in 2022
ASYAAF&Hidden Artists FestivalGallery: Gallery LVSVenue: Seoul Hongik Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea)Date: 26th July to 21st August in 2022
ART FAIR TOKYO 2019Organizer: General Incorporated Association Art Fair TokyoSupported by: Kobayashi Gallery, IncFeatured artists: Izumi Akiyama, Sei Shibusawa, Chihiro Tanaka, Taniho Reina, Rina Yokyama, Takeshi Tanaka, Towa TakayaVenue;Tokyo International Forum Date: 7th March to 10th March, 2019Official website:https://artfairtokyo.com/2019/overview
[GROUP EXHIBITION]Arcus Pride Art Exhibition 2023Organizer: Clifford Chance International Law farm Date: 29th Jun in 2023Venue: Clifford Chance International Law-farm Tokyo Adress: Tokyo Palace Building, 3rd floor 1-1, Marunouchi 1-chome. Chiyoda-ku. TokyoEarly Summer BreezeVenue: Kobayashi gallery (Tokyo, Japan) Date: 10th to 20th May in 2023Adress: 3F 1-15-13 Shiba Minato-ku Tokyo JAPANONBEAT Art show Organizer: Onbeat MagazineVenue: Contemporary art gallery at Hankyu Mens Osaka (Osaka, Japan) Date: 17th to 21st May in 2023Adress: 7-10 Kakuda-cho, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka
ART is ... vol.26 Organizer: WHAT CAFE Date: 29th April to 21st May in 2023Adress: 2-1-11 Higashi Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, TokyoChroma Distance Venue: POLA MUSEUM ANNEX (Tokyo, Japan)Organiser: POLA MUSEUM ANNEXCollaboration: TRiCERA, IncDate: 20th January to 5th February in 2023Spiral Xmas Market -Part3Venue: 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.TOKYOVenue: 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 TERRADAVenue: WHAT CAFE (Tokyo, Japan)Date: 5th to 23rd March in 2022Virtual 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.,LTDVenue: Monkey Galley DAIKANYAMA (Tokyo, Japan)Date: 1st Feb to 11th Feb in 2020 How Tokyo Biennale ?
Organizer: General Incorporated Association Tokyo BiennaleVenue: 3331 Arts ChiyodaAdress: 6-11-14, Higashikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JAPANDate: 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 JapanDate: 28th Jun in 2019Venue: JP Morgan Tokyo brunchAdress: Tokyo Building, 7-3, Marunouchi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 100-6432
Arcus Pride Art Exhibition
Organizer: Clifford Chance International Law farmDate: 27th Jun in 2019Venue: 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, IncFeatured artists: Izumi Akiyama, Luzia Shimons, Towa Takaya, Reina Taniho. Date: 27th Nov to 8th Dec 2018Venue: Kobayashi GalleryAdress; 3F, 1-15-13,Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
Sven Fresher Green
Organizer: Kobayashi Gallery, IncFeatured artists: Izumi Akiyama, Takeshi Tanaka, Sei Shibusawa, Towa Takaya, Rina Yokouchi, Chisato Tanaka. Date: 15th to 25th May 2018Venue: Kobayashi GalleryAdress; 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 TakayaAdress: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 PresenceVenue: Oriental MuseumDate: 29th Jan to 20th May 2016https://www.dur.ac.uk/oriental.museum/
ON the THRESHOLD
Venue: Oriental Museum/ Teikyo University DURHAM (Durham, UK)Date: 10th to 15th Nov 2015https://www.dur.ac.uk/oriental.museum/whatson/details/?id=27959
Hoxton Hotel x Creative Debuts
Organizer: Creative DebutsVenue: 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 DebutsVenue: 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 CommitteeVenue: Shiboriya, Kameyama Higashi shopping street (Mie, Japan) 2012Date: 28th Oct to 4th Nov in 2012
Painting Show
Central Saint Martins College of Art (London, UK) 2012Venue: Back Hill. 10 Back Hill, London, EC1R 5EN, UK
Informania
Support: Keio University Art CenterVenue: Keio Raiousya Gallery (Kanagawa, Japan) Date: 6th to 15th Dec 2010
[FILM FESTIVAL]
Maebashi Film Festival 2016
Organizer: Maebashi Film Festival Execution CommitteeDate: 11th and 12th Nov 2016 (Maebashi, Japan)
[COLLABORATION]Shiseido MIRAI Technology institute x TOWA TAKAYAJoint research (Ongoing project)
ARC x TOWA TAKAYAlive performance for VR painting @ NTT docomo Ventures,(Tokyo, Japan)Organizer: ARCDate: 22nd March 2017Technical 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 GalleryVenue: 1st Floor, 1-2-23, Nishitenman, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0047Date: 14th-31st Oct, 2017 (Osaka, Japan)
83rd KOKUTEN
Venue: THE NATIONAL ART CENTER, TOKYO (Tokyo, Japan) Date : 29th April to 11th May in 2009Organizer: KOKUGAKAI Supporter: NHK Public Welfare Organization