DAICHI TAKAGI

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Daichi Takagi was born in 1982 in Gifu, Japan. He received BFA and MFA in painting from Tama Art University, Tokyo. He received Japanese Government Overseas Research Program Grant from the Cultural Affairs of Japan and lived and worked in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from September, 2018. Currently, lives and works in Kanagawa, Japan.

Takagi has been painting between the concepts of “abstraction” and “figurative”, changing the degree of these concepts as he went along. At first, he was working on paintings with abstracted still life and landscapes, using morphological expressions as an opening, then he developed into shaped-canvas works and grid-structured works in recent years. Since his residency in the Netherlands in 2018, he has been working on the act of painting by focusing more on his intuition of seeing and painting than on his previous theories and methods. Motifs are selected from specific objects that exist around the artist such as trees, rain, water surface, windows, the moon, and birds, and space and textures that the artist has actually experienced are confirmed one by one he works with various paints an brushes to complete his paintings.

Recently, Takagi presented his work in solo show “Light, colour, outlines” at KAYOKOYUKI, Tokyo, 2021, “DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow 2021” at The National Art Center / Tokyo, 2021, “Daichi Takagi, Lucia Vidales, Hiroka Yamashita” at Taka Ishii Gallery / Tokyo, 2020, Solo show “Intuition” at TIME & STYLE Amsterdam / Netherlands, 2019, “Contemporary Art Experimental Exhibition -Perspectives (1)” at Intermediatheque, Tokyo, 2017, Solo show “Periphery” at Foundation B.a.d, Rotterdam, 2016, “Footprints” at Museum Haus Kasuya, Kanagawa, 2016, “COOL INVITATIONS 2” at XYZ Collective, Tokyo, 2015, “The Way of Painting” at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, 2014, “DAI CHU SHOW -recent abstract” at Fuchu art museum citizen’s gallery and LOOPHOLE, Tokyo, 2013, “The fertile land” at akibatamabi21, Tokyo, 2011, “SSS-expand painting” at MISAKO & ROSEN, Tokyo, 2010.

https://daichitakagi.net/

SHIHO KAGABU

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Shiho Kagabu was born in 1981 in Kanagawa, Japan. Gained B.F.A.in Art and Design from Bunka Women’s University and M.F.A. in Sculpture from Tama Art University. Kagabu received Japanese Government Oversea Research Program Grant, Agency for Cultural Affairs and lived and worked in Milan, Italy from 2017 to 2018. Currently, lives and works in Tokyo.

Shiho Kagabu has been creating sculpture by utilizing various things such as everyday items which lost their usefulness, found objects which are broken and discarded, and building materials available at home improvement store.
In her artwork, Kagabu dismantles common meanings and functions of these diverse things, creates a new relationship through combination, and places it in a space. Kagabu says that either these constituents, as well as herself, are existent in the world according to the law governing the globe, and, in that sense, they are interrelated with each other. This remark shows that the artist recognizes every single thing as an independent entity. Kagabu also says that “I doubt the rules defined by humans, but I believe in the rules that are on a global, or even universal scale.” By harmoniously approaching and carefully hearing the voice of things, the artist attempts to set up in an exhibition space the state of creation and circulation that reflects the natural law.

Recently, Kagabu presented her work in “Made in Fuchu 20 years of open studio production” at Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo, 2020, solo show ”Mantle Plume -The Anger of Izanami and Pele” at KAYOKOYUKI, Tokyo, 2019, solo show “Dipende” at Tempio del Futuro Perduto, Milan, Italy, 2018, solo show “Critical Point” at gallery21yo-j, Tokyo, 2017, “Tokorozawa Biennial of Contemporary Art “railroad siding 2015” in Saitama, “KAKEHASHI Project” at Japan Society, New York, 2014, “Artist File 2013:The NACT Annual Show of Contemporary Art” at The National Art Center, Tokyo, “TAMAgawa tatta hi” at JIKKA and NADiff window gallery, Tokyo, 2013, “Signals//Itabashi//2011 Live the landscape” at Itabashi ArtMuseum, Tokyo, “VOCA2010” at The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, “Open Studio Program No.51” at Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo, “back to the drawing board” at geh8 Kunstraum und Ateliers e.V., Dresden, Germany.

http://www.kagabu.com/

Lateral Thinking
I dream, I fly in the sky. The stars, the tears, do not flow.

To begin, there is a sky.
There is a land.
By looking up, by looking down, the space splits horizontally into two. By standing vertically,
depending on the perspective, one can see the horizon. Instantaneously, Big Bang spreads.
Lateral Thinking
By lying down, the tears fall horizontally.
Too bright, the shooting stars cannot be seen.
Creating gemstones of stars.
Flying through the sky.
The akaoni who cried,
became the land, became the brightness of the stars.

2021, October 4. Kagabu Shiho.