Japanese artist Kozo Takano’s acrylic-on-board paintings combine bright textured swaths of color with abstract forms. Inspired in part by the work of Picasso, Klee, and Japanese painter Morikazu Kumagai, Takano works to unpack the concrete forms that are his inspiration in order to uncover the essence that lies within. Compositions play with unique juxtapositions of line and geometric form, while thick layers of textured paint add a level of dimensionality to the overall effect. In other paintings, his approach is much starker, exploring the unique sensibility that results when solitary lines are placed against neutral backgrounds. Above all, Takano seeks to convey humor through his abstract work, where the viewer can find natural irony “when the concrete impression of the external world passes [through] the ideological process of the heart.” It is here that he offers his greatest gift to the viewer: the ability to find the spark in the most mundane of subjects, thereby inviting us to appreciate the vast depth and beauty in all that lies before us.
Kozo Takano currently lives and works in Yokohama, Japan.