Toshiyuki Kajioka & Kengo Takahashi

Seizan Gallery is pleased to present a two-person exhibition of emerging Japanese artists, Toshiyuki Kajioka & Kengo Takahashi.

For twenty years Toshiyuki Kajioka (b. 1978, Tokyo, Japan) has stoically painted a single subject: the surface of a flowing river. He received training in Nihonga, the traditional Japanese painting, as a young artist at school. Early on, Kajioka experienced an epiphanic moment with the realization that his ultimate subject would be the dynamic surface of rivers. Working in sumi ink and graphite pencil, Kajioka captures the transcendental wildness, tranquility, and depth of this body of water. The artist captures a legible riverscape working in the intense, experiential approach of abstract painting. Kajioka’s work has been exhibited at major venues including Spiral in Tokyo (solo), Nijo Castile in Kyoto, and Toyohashi City Art Museum in Aichi, Japan.

Kengo Takahashi's (b. 1982, Kagoshima, Japan) art-making was transformed by natural disaster and its aftermath. As a result of his experience of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, the questions of “life and death” became the central focus of his work. At that time, Takahashi began the series of aluminum sculptures titled Flower Funeral. Each sculpture takes the form of an animal or human skull and is masterfully constructed of hundreds of myosotis and chrysanthemum flowers. Myosotis, also known as the forget-me-not flower, is a symbol of true love. Chrysanthemum, the flower used for funerals in Japan, is a reminder of death and the mourning process. Takahashi’s works have been included in major museum exhibitions, including Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France; Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art in Tokyo, Japan; and the Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum, Ishikawa, Japan.