[Press Release]2022/10/25

Yoriko TAKABATAKE CAVE
Saturday, 19 November – Saturday, 24 December, 2022

Yoriko TAKABATAKE, CAVE, 2022, plaster, PVA, acrylic, canvas, panel, 145.5×145.5cm

Blown by the wind, paint floats on the water surface, and the heat melts it down, alters its
color and oxidizes the paint. It sinks to the bottom and accumulates.

Yoriko TAKABATAKE, October 20221

Since 2016, Yoriko Takabatake has set her painting process amongst the circulation of all things in nature, andstarted incorporating natural elements such as wind, water, fire and magnetism into her art practice.
Takabatake has been exploring the relationship between paint and canvas through a scientific method ofproduction that builds models and hypotheses based on the observation of her repeated studioexperimentations with different materials and techniques. Upon preparing for this exhibition, the artist has
taken further steps with which she looks into the inner part of Earth. Her new series of works titled ‘CAVE’ isinspired by her trip to Lascaux and nearby places in 2019 where the first paintings in human history werecreated in caves. In this series, Takabatake uses stucco as a painting medium, which turns into limestone as
it absorbs CO2. Utilizing the characteristics of canvas that she has studied over the years, Takabatake applies
various techniques such as punch needle, cuts, fulls, knots and wrinkles on her hemp cloth before submerging
it into stucco. In this way, she has developed an artmaking method in which small particles are graduallydeposited by gravity, and new forms are generated due to the interaction of the canvas and material – similar
to how stalactites are formed.

Yoriko TAKABATAKE, CAVE, 2022, plaster, PVA, acrylic, canvas, panel, 145.5×145.5cm (detail)2

During a visit to the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus, Takabatake also noticed water marks from the inflow of seawater
into the mound and the colors created by the oxidation of metals in the rocks. This exhibition will also featurea series of works in which the artist repeatedly submerges canvas into liquid in order to create colored layers
on canvas, utilizing natural metallic pigments such as ochre, red iron oxide and greenish blue.

Given the fact that the fundamental theme of Takabatake’s work has always been recursive and incorporated
physical phenomena on Earth to generate works of art in this world, it is easy to understand how this theme
has been embodied in the aforementioned wind, water, and other forms. For Takabatake, the reality of theseconcepts must be her body of work.

Takabatake possesses the speciality in her ability to culminate immense scientific ambition into the painting
format and transfer it to a viewing experience. As if they were born on this planet thanks to various
environmental and accidental elements, her paintings display a strong existence as independent organisms
along with their spatial depth and evoke the viewers’ imagination. We are looking forward to seeing you at theexhibition.
ShugoArts, 2022

Yoriko TAKABATAKE, CAVE, 2022, plaster, PVA, acrylic, canvas, panel, 145.5×145.5cm
3Yoriko TAKABATAKE, CAVE, 2022, plaster, pigment, PVA, acrylic, canvas, panel, 41×31.8cm

Yoriko TAKABATAKE CAVE
Dates: Saturday, 19 November – Saturday, 24 December, 2022
Venue: ShugoArts
Hours: 12pm – 6pm, Closed on Sun, Mon and Public Holidays*The opening reception will not be held this time. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we have shortened our opening hours.

About the artist
Born in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1982. Currently lives and works in Tokyo. Takabatake had an opportunity to participate in an artist-in-residence programat Joseph and Anni Albers Foundation in order to undertake her research on Anni Albers while she was a doctoral student at the Tokyo Universityof the Arts. To put her experience into practice, the artist actively engages with materials, colors and physical structures found in various fields ofart and design. Takabatake leaves room for chance within her dialectical artmaking practice while visualizing the process of “making, breaking andremaking” by letting paints interact with “the basic elements” such as wind, water and fire. Such practice is exemplified in her series featuring
thread-thin paints overlapping with each other like a net, reproducing a canvas-like structure on canvas. Through her rigorous experiments,
contemplation and trials, the artist keeps producing new artworks which open doors for potential new painting expressions.
Selected solo exhibition: MARS, Gana Art Nineone, Seoul, 2022; MARS, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2020; Fountain, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2018; Bathing,ShugoArts Weekend Gallery, Tokyo, 2016; Project N 58 Yoriko Takabatake, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, 2014; Selected group exhibition:
TRICK-DIMENSION, TOKYO FRONT LINE, Tokyo, 2013; Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi 2013, Tokyo, 2013; DANDANS at No Man's Land, former
French Embassy, Tokyo, 2010

ShugoArts complex665 2F, 6-5-24, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 / +81 3 6447 2234
Press: Minako Ishii, Momoko Yamada / gallery@shugoarts.com◆Other artists' news are available on：http://shugoarts.com/en/topics/
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