Aya Takano “To Lose Is to Gain” – Galerie Perrotin

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AYA TAKANO
“TO LOSE

IS TO GAIN

Aya Takano, “To Lose Is To Gain”

Galerie Perrotin, Paris is presenting a solo show of Aya Takano, “To Lose Is
To Gain” from 23rd June to 28th July 2012 bringing together a new series of
paintings in rectangular and diamond shapes, all inspired by the earthquake
that struck Japan in March 2011.

Painter, artist, creator of Mangas and author of science-fiction novels,
Takano belongs to the Kaikai Kiki artistic production studio created by
Takashi Murakami in 2001. We find surprising and sundry references in
her paintings : Italian Renaissance, animes, art from the world of Ukiyo-e
(Hokusai for example), particularly that of Shunga and the erotic prints in
her work.

Slender child-women, often naked, inhabit her half fantastic, half real uni-
verse and more rarely, feminised masculine characters. These mutant-like
figures with oversized eyes and elongated legs dally in amorous scenes
and improbable encounters with mythical animals in lunar landscapes and
urban settings. Her colours are always delicate and shaded, the surface
and chromatic richness of her paintings at times recalling fresco techniques.

As the artist explains, “When I first began work on this collection of images,
only a few months separated me from the events of 3.11. Overwhelmed by
the breadth of the shock, I was virtually unable to think or paint, but I tried,
in the midst of that confusion, to focus on the path down which Japan had
come and the future to which it was moving. It is this which I have painted
and the images are special ones that could only have come from such a
chaotic time.”

The small diamond shaped paintings literally float in the same space as the
monumental canvasses. The works are gathered around three themes: past,
present and future. Paintings such as “Past: at the soshimai In shin-yoshi-
wara”, 2011, which represents intimate scenes tied to the traditional image
of Japan, as well as episodes of violence resulting from the recent history of
the country, belong to the first group of works. On the contrary, in paintings
like “Present” 2011, we see frightening scenes that are bizarrely connect-
ed to dreamlike visions. Finally, as is often the case in her works, Takano
imagines an upside down world where cities and their inhabitants are not
subject to the laws of gravity and roam freely in futuristic galaxies (“Future:
with their foundations in outer-space, metropolises float in mid-air”, 2011
and “Future: cities shaped like internal organs and cubic vehicles”, 2011).

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