Artwork photographs by Adam Reich
MOTOHIDE TAKAMI 高見基秀
1986
Born in Ishikawa, Japan
Lives and works in Chiba, Japan
Compelling and dreamy images bring the viewer deeper into these works: a house on a riverbank on fire, the portrait of the Japanese royal family juxtaposed with a Buddhist pagoda. In his own unique way, Motohide Takami explores the limitations of the idea of the individual, of compassion and of what it means to be human in today’s society.
After studying art and design at University of Toyama, Takami continued on to graduate school at Tohoku University of Art in Yamagata. The Great Earthquake of 2011 occurred while he was there, and the disaster and its aftermath had a definite impact on his choice of subject matter. One of his signature images, a house or car in flames by the riverside, refers to the Japanese expression, "fire on the other side of the river," meaning somebody else's business. It is Takami's ironic examination of human disinterest in tragic events.
Takami also makes more direct references to historical events and social issues on canvas. One painting shows the rocket Soyuz 1, whose 1967 crash resulted in space flight's first in-flight fatality. Another features the image of a German boom concrete pump used to cool nuclear reactors in Fukushima after 3/11. Such complex stories are narrated in ominous, yet captivating works. Takami's works remind us that tragic events have always been a part of history and keep challenging us to consider our place within it.
EDUCATION
2012
MFA in painting, Tohoku University of Art and Design, Yamagata, Japan
2010
BFA in Faculty of Art and Design, Fine Art and Craft, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
Motohide Takami: Gazing at the Burning House of the Three Worlds, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2020
Motohide Takami: Pay No Attention To The Rot, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019
Motohide Takami: Fires On Another Shore, SEIZAN Gallery, New York
2018
Motohide Takami: Taigan kara Mieru Fūkei, JINEN GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2016
Motohide Takami: Ishiki no Tozama, JINEN GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2015
Motohide Takami: Tsugō no ii Fūkeitachi, JINEN GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2014
Motohide Takami: Mitai monoshika Mienai, NICHE GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2013
Motohide Takami: Ustushi Moyō, SAN-AI GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2012
Motohide Takami-ten, Gallery b. Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Fluid Places, SEIZAN Gallery, New York
2022
PASSION!!, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
The Way of Paintings 2022, SOMPO Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
Idemitsu Art Award 2022, The National Art Center Tokyo, Japan
2021
FACE 2021, SOMPO Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
Wakusei: PLANETS, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan
JOKER, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2020
Yairo no Mori no Bijutsu: Spin Off-ten, Ningyōchō Vision’s Tokyo, Japan
Catenations, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, New York
ON THIS SHORE, SEIZAN Gallery, New York
A Single Ant Bite, SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019
LANDSCAPE, GALLERY TSUBAKI, Tokyo, Japan
Face 2019: Sompo Japan Nipponkōa Art Award Exhibition, Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan
Nipponkōa Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
The 3rd Yairo no Mori Bijutsu-ten, Ikeda Art Museum, Niigata, Japan
Watashi no naka no Murakami Haruki III, Gallery Echo-ann, Tokyo, Japan
2017
ACT Art Award Exhibition 2017, The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
ACT Art Award Exhibition 2017: Winner’s Exhibition, The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2016
KOWAII-ten V, Gallery 151A, Tokyo, Japan
GALLERY SELECTION-ten, Gallery b. Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Ikaiyori. Kokodenai-dokoka, Gallery Sugino, Tokyo, Japan
2015
Gasho-ten, Gallery Kingyo, Tokyo, Japan
Engimono-ten, Gallery 151A, Tokyo, Japan
Tanzaku-ten, Arai Gallery, Art Data Bank, Tokyo, Japan
2015 fall: Ginza Art Dōbutsuen, Yu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Kizashi-ten, Gallery Kingyo, Tokyo, Japan
2014
Tanzaku-ten, Arai Gallery, Art Data Bank, Tokyo, Japan
Space23 Open kinen Toriatukai Sakka Syohinten, Inoue Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2013
Gallery b. Tokyo Gallery Selection, Gallery b. tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Kūsou Bijutsu Taishō-ten 2013, Itochū Aoyama Art Square, Tokyo, Zokyudo Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
New City Art Fair Taipei, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taiwan (ROC)
2012
Tohoku University of Art & Design Sotsugyo syuryo kenkyu seisaku-ten, Kyoto University of the Arts, Tokyo, Tohoku University of Art & Design, Yamagata, Japan
KOWAII-ten II, Art Data Bank, Tokyo, Japan
Derby-ten, Gallery Kingyo, Tokyo, Japan
Tohoku University of Art & Design Sotsugyo syuryo-ten, Kyoto University of the Arts, Tokyo, Tohoku University of Art & Design, Yamagata, Japan
Gallery SORA Yonin-ten, Gallery SORA, Tokyo, Japan
2011
Aozora De Art, Gallery two-plus, Gallery two-plus, Tokyo, Japan
The 29th Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2010
Graduate Exhibition at University of Toyama: GEIBUNI, Takaoka Art Museum, Toyama, Japan
University of Toyama, Faculty of Art and Design Gakusei sakuhin sougo kouryu-ten, Lahti Institute of Design and Fine Arts, Finland
The 8th Thumb Hole Awards Exhibition, Nishiwaki, Okanoyama Museum of Art, Nishiwaki, Hyogo, Japan
Via art 2010, Shinwa Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
PABLICATIONS
2021
Front page design: Russell, Josh, King of the Animals, LSU Press
Illustration: Bass, Rich, MONKEY Volume 25: Mississippi (from “The Watch” 1989), Switch Publishing Co., Ltd.
2015
Illustration: Dickens, Charles, MONKEY Volume 5: To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt, Switch Publishing Co., Ltd.
AWARDS
2022
Kimura Eriko prize for Idemitsu Art Award 2022
2021
Excellence Award for FACE 2021, SOMPO JPAN Nipponkōa Art Award
2017
Excellence Award for the ACT Art Award Exhibition 2017, The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2010
Tatehata Award at the 1st Graduate Exhibition of the University of Toyama: GEIBUNI, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
EXHIBITIONS
Fluid Places
Ya-Chin Chang | Yen Yen-Jui Lai
Homer Shew | Motohide Takami
Motohide Takami: Fires on Another Shore
PRESS
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Motohide Takami Explores Human Empathy with Paintings of Historic Disasters, Hypebeast, Sept. 5, 2019
Painting Disaster From a Distance, Hyperallergic, October 26, 2019