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SUZUKI TAKAKO

07.11.2020 --- 08.01.2020

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Avenue des Arts is proud to present Suzuki Takako’s first solo exhibition, “Ambiguous Us.” The show will consist of 33 paintings that depict Takako’s own scenery where humans and animals don’t have gender or a specific language. Her pieces are ethereal and atmospheric to show that there are many uncertainties about the past, the present, and the future.

 

The childlike characters in Suzuki Takako’s paintings are all under 7 years old. In Japan there is a traditional rite of passage called “Shichigosan” literally translating to “seven-five-three”. In the past, families have lost children due to poverty and health issues, so once a child reached three, five, and seven years old there was a celebration. It was also believed that the children belonged to God until the age of 7, and customary to shave the children’s hair until the age of 3. Once Takako learned of this mythology and tradition, the characters in her head stopped aging past 7 and she was able to understand them better.

The animals in her pieces were actually once human children. Once the children reached 7 years old, they were given a choice to remain a human and grow up or become an animal. If they chose to remain a human, they would be deprived of memory, emotion, and intelligence and merely drift through space in their human form. However, if they chose to morph into an animal, they are only deprived of language and cannot communicate. All of these events and characters are fluid and gender nonconforming.

Takako uses delicate brush strokes to create vibrating and shimmering backgrounds that could only exist in a dream sequence. “Ambiguous Us” is an introduction and invitation into the effervescent world that exists solely in Suzuki Takako’s mind and heart

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