6/13 (Sat.) - 7/25 (Sat.), 2009
Opening Salon: 6/13 Sat. 6pm-9pm

Takesue, who now works in Tokyo, began to work on digital art after encountering Macintosh computers through the graphic design job he took on after graduating from university.

Takesue's works are all digitally produced but the surfaces of the images depicting motifs such as landscapes are covered in brushstrokes reminiscent of conventional oil paintings. The visual density of the patterns is however, higher than anything painted by hand and exemplifies Takesue's challenge at expanding the potential of digital expression.

"I seek a 'presence' that can only be achieved through digital works; that is the motivation for my creation. A 'presence' that comes to the fore through repeatedly drawing over and modifying the existing image. It is about giving a material feeling to the immaterial digital." - Koichiro Takesue

Digital images do not change physically regardless of how much they may be worked on. However, Takesue's digital brushstroke patterns, clearly the result of a monumental amount of work, leave a mysterious impression on the viewer especially because of the contrast with the flat surface on which they are printed. The motifs are also somehow portentous while seemingly lacking any context, inducing an uncanny anxiety.

Takesue's works seek to gain a presence through the obsessive work on an immaterial surface depicting a story-less scene. It may be rather too sentimental to see in it our disorientated contemporary society, but to view these dense images and to let our minds drift is to renew our awareness of our own fluctuating existence that constantly seeks to retain its shape.