CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) is pleased to announce “Voice of Nature,” an exhibition of paintings by Keiko Takeko.

Through her works, she wants to express the beauty, strength, diversity and modesty of nature, sometimes incorporating words which she “hears” from nature. She feels that living with nature teaches us to accept changes and reminds us that important things will come to us naturally.

An Opening Reception with the artist will take place on Saturday, June 6, 2015 from 6 – 8 pm.  At 7 pm the artist will perform two pantomime pieces inspired by Ka-Cho-Fu-Getsu. Ka-Cho-Fu-Getsu are the traditional themes of natural beauty in Japanese aesthetics. “Ka” means flower, “Cho” means bird, “Fu” means wind and “Getsu” means moon.

The exhibition will remain on display through the end of June.

About the Artist

Keiko Takeko came to the United States in 1997 and to study art at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. After graduation in 2000, she returned to Japan and worked at Ukiyo-e gallery. While working, she kept learning art, especially abstract painting, at Musashino Art University (correspondence education).

Her first exhibition was a group exhibition in 2012, “Christmas Art Gift exhibitionâ€_(art lab noct, Tokyo) and the second was a joint exhibition with her friend in 2013, “Exhibition in Mayâ€_(Sendagi-Kukan, Tokyo).

She also began to learn pantomime under a popular pantomimer, Sugapon (Mr. Reina Suga), once a week from 2011. She currently performs once a month as part of the class performance series called “Washitsu no kai.â€_

Artist Statement

We live with nature which changes every day and every moment. New green leaves in spring make me happy and blowing wind makes me refresh. On heavy rainy days with thunder, I feel fear and realize how little my existence is. My heart is moved when I meet a beautiful moment of nature, and one of my motives to make nature work is to express those moments. I imagine the scene and choose the paper color which suits it. I draw, paint and collage with various media such as pastel, acrylic, cellophane, autumn leaves etc. and finish when I feel that the image become the moment. Making several works with the same size is an influence of Ukiyo-e formats such as Diptych and Triptych. I make each panel separately. So I cannot imagine what will happen finally, when it comes all together. This unpredictable part interests me a lot.

Morning comes, night comes. There is a clear day and a rainy day. The season changes and repeats. I think that this cycle of nature is similar to the cycle of the human heart, feelings and life. However, nature never complains. They are just there and accept the changes. Besides, they surprise and please us with various expressions. The essence of the nature is warm and positive. I am glad if you would feel essence of such nature through my work.

About pantomime

It is important for a pantomimer to become the thing itself that he wants to express. For example, if you want to express a flower, you need to become a flower. This is one of the reasons that I like mime. This idea makes me more familiar with nature and makes me think of it more directly.

Additionally, doing mime gives me the idea of using my body as my art motif.