Thursday 10 January – Wednesday 19 March 2008
Green Evolution: Wall-mounted Tableaux by Kazuhito Takadoi
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Inspired by the rich woodland surrounding his birthplace of Nagoya, Japan, Kazuhito Takadoi creates ‘organic art’ using materials he has grown and selected in his own garden.
Kazuhito Takadoi describes the making of his unique work as ‘showing a very tight discipline in the Japanese tradition’. In contrast he describes this finished work as ‘a western abstract’. He likens the slow aging process and subtle colour changes in his organic art to that of aging tatami mats or the changes apparent in a lacquer bowl, which in time reveal the colour of its base coat.
Each piece is made from leaves, grasses and twigs embroidered onto Japanese paper, and evokes the different shades and hues created by the seasons.
‘Clean and spare, these fibre drawings quite literally spring from the paper onto which they are stitched, reflecting both the energy and symmetry nature provides’ –Jessica Hemmings, FibreArts (Summer 2006)
‘The work has a strong contemporary resonance. Takadoi takes certain traditional art motifs and makes them utterly his own. Takadoi is not afraid to break the rules, I find that refreshing.’
– Sachiko Ewing curator of ‘Katachi: The Essence of Japanese Design’ (2006) at London’s Flow Gallery.
All images © Kazuhito Takadoi.