Nap of Swan スワンの午睡

Takayanagi explores the connection between objects and actions. To explore means to use every handhold and foothold in seeking out what is hidden in a particular situation. What we feel, when standing before a Takayanagi piece, might be a sensation similar to this. The aspects of the work’s appearance, mood, or material quality that seem odd or out of joint and hold our attention are what connect us with the work. Takayanagi’s artworks generally arise from something that strikes her attention. An object catches her interest, and in approaching it, she tries “not to reduce the object’s complexity.” As a result, a certain situation is born that vividly reveals the object’s material qualities and her response to them. The entire process of this investigation is what constitutes the artwork that we see. In Nap of Swan and Green Garden, through extreme care in handling her materials, she reveals to us the complexity of a dustcloth and a handkerchief, and shows us a situation she has judged “worthy of being seen.” In her production of art, Takayanagi “liberates” both herself and the object from adhering words and meanings, out of a desire to truly feel “the unique, individual character possessed by an object as an autonomous thing,” she says. We are perhaps, by habit, overly judgmental of photographs and objects with regard to their appearance or method of engagement. Takayanagi’s works unexpectedly cast light on our judgmental character as such.