Iwasaki Takahiro

Photo: Nozomi Tomoda

Iwasaki creates detailed, ephemeral landscapes from items such as toothbrushes, towels, ribbon bookmarks, and duct tape. Familiar everyday objects change scale, producing miniature scenes: steel pylons stand atop piles of towels, and construction cranes extend from bookmark ribbons. At times, his work extends into fantasy. Iwasaki’s art explores issues of visual imagery, such as shifts in perspective and changes in scale. His work for the exhibition, Out of Disorder (Layer and Folding), represents the flow of energy across the Japanese archipelago. Powerlines and steel pylons extend over a geological cross-section stretching from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific Ocean. The frailty of modern civilization stands in juxtaposition with the long history of the earth’s geological formations.

プロフィール

b. 1975 in Hiroshima Prefecture. Iwasaki earned a PhD in art from Hiroshima City University in 2003 and an MFA from the Edinburgh College of Art in 2005. His past solo exhibitions include Takahiro Iwasaki: In Focus (Asia Society Museum, New York, 2015) and Turned Upside Down, It’s a Forest (57th Venice Biennale, 2017). He is a recipient of the 68th MEXT New Artist Award (2018) and the Takashimaya Art Award (2023). His works are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne) and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.

[On exhibit] ”Out of Disorder (Layer and Folding),” 2018. Collection of the artist. Photo: Koroda Takeru

[On exhibit] “Out of Disorder (Layer and Folding),” 2018. Photo: Koroda Takeru

[On exhibit] “Out of Disorder (Layer and Folding),” 2018. Photo: Koroda Takeru

[On exhibit] “Out of Disorder (Layer and Folding),” 2018. Photo: Koroda Takeru

[On exhibit] “Out of Disorder (Layer and Folding),” 2018. Photo: Koroda Takeru