How did Saiko Otabe cultivate her distinct flair and compositions in her artworks? 

—Congratulations on your first solo exhibition in Europe. How did it come about?

Saiko Otake: I met the owner of Sato Gallery, Julien, when I was visiting Paris in 2019 for work, and we were able to make this exhibition happen after covid. I was in my head because it was my first art show in Europe, but he told me, “Have fun with it!” That made me want to show an evolved version of what I had been making in Japan. One of my dreams, to have an exhibition abroad, has come true. 

—Your works are characterized by their powerful, rich colors, including pieces in COLOURIDER. What role does color play? 

Otake: I discovered 60s psychedelic art as a child and was drawn to distinct color schemes using fluorescent colors, typography, and the impact of color. Since then, I’ve truly understood the power that colors have. It’s not that I like colors just because they’re loud; I like strange color schemes or the power and strong impression that colors emit when combined. There are infinite ways to combine and show colors, so I want to express how amazing they are all the time. 

—The title, COLOURIDER, fits your exhibition so perfectly. Your compositions and arrangements are unique and exquisite. 

Otake: When I was younger, I wanted to become someone who makes posters. Perhaps I think of my art as compositions that combine patterns and colors rather than paintings due to my admiration for posters. I like looking at old posters and advertisements, so I’m sure they influence my work. Other than drawing women, I drew things that don’t exist, like dinosaurs and monsters. 

This might be the influence of psychedelic posters. I also have some pieces where I intensely filled in the blank spaces with something like words that connected to each other.

Blurring the line by combining photos/A book series that accumulates everyday inspiration 

—Aside from paintings, you’re also showing artworks that combine two photos together. You create a different image by putting photos that look seemingly unrelated to one another side by side. How did you come up with this?

Otake: I joined a workshop on Daido Moriyama’s exhibition at Tate Modern when I was in London. Monochromatic photos were on the wall, and we had to choose a number and create our own layout. That workshop inspired me to put together photos I took on my own. The catalyst for [this method] was placing photos that looked seemingly unrelated to one another side by side. It was fun. The boundaries between time, place, and colors are made ambiguous by combining two completely different photos, so I was especially mindful of the balance of the colors and shape of the layouts. For this exhibition, the theme is overseas and Japan; the photos I took abroad are on the left, and those I took in Japan are on the right. 

—Is that how your book series was born? 

Otake: Yes. I had always wanted to make a book with no blank spaces, so I made three as part of my graduation project at Central Saint Martins. I self-published 15 books by 2022. I took photos as though I were collecting sceneries that inspired me daily. 

—What sort of sceneries in your daily life do you get inspiration from? 

Otake: I’m interested in old things that have been left behind and things that humans altered. I’m drawn to parts of posters, peeling walls, old mannequins, and more. In terms of places, I like museums, old stationery stores, vintage shops, and markets selling many different items. Bathrooms, signs, and trash on the ground are must-sees when I’m overseas. They have unique colors that you don’t see in Japan. 

・Impressions of visiting the Netherlands for the first time and traveling around Europe

—I see. I’d like to hear about your travels. This is your first time visiting the Netherlands; what are your impressions? 

Otake: What surprised me were the big windows where you can see everything inside the houses. I heard that in the past, it signaled living a modest life under the influence of Protestantism, which preferred simplicity and frugality. But today, it’s shifting to a custom where people show off. That was interesting. When I walk on the streets, I feel like I’m watching one scene from a film because I see glimpses of people’s lives, like a family sitting at the dinner table. I talked to long-time residents of the Netherlands, which made me appreciate the place even more. It’s relatively easy to get a visa, and the support for artists is generous. Traveling around, I get the impression that the people are kind here.

—Your trip started in London. You’re now done with traveling around the Netherlands, and you’re visiting Paris after this. What do your travels look like? 

Otake: I got so pumped when I first saw (Ronald Brooks) Kitaj’s exhibition in London, and the cityscape, smell, and look of pubs all felt so nostalgic. I was nervous because it took a long time for my pieces to arrive in Rotterdam. I also went to the Hague and Amsterdam to visit people I know. I feel happy every day because I can absorb things I find stimulating for the first time in a long time.

I want to visit the Japan Museum Sieboldhuis in Leiden after this. Writer Akira Yoshimura-san’s books are interesting, so I’m interested in Sieboldhuis and the people he was affiliated with. I’m going to Philippe Weisbecker’s exhibition in Paris and Gilles Aillaud’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou. I’m also going all the way to Lyon to visit the Ideal Palace. It’s a castle built by a mail carrier named (Ferdinand) Cheval and is categorized as outsider art. I’ve been interested in it since I was small, so I’m very excited. 

—I’m surprised by the breadth of your interests, which span modern art, outsider art, and even history. 

Otake: I’m looking forward to seeing actual paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, and so on, but I want to cross the line of art that has already been assigned value and appreciate various things with curiosity.

—How has the path to becoming an artist been?

Otake: I’ve enjoyed looking at many different things since I was small. I used to draw people in my sketchbook and look through magazines to draw. But I didn’t think of becoming an artist, nor did I believe I could make a living as one, so I simply hoped I could support my father (who’s an artist). I eventually started wanting to draw and express things myself; I am where I am today because I was given many opportunities. 

—How do you feel now that you’re having your first solo exhibition in Europe?

Otake: I’m relieved it opened safe and sound; I’m satisfied with my first solo exhibition outside Japan. It’d be more interesting to show bigger pieces with colors next time. It’s open until March 3rd, so I’m both apprehensive and eager about the feedback I’ll receive. It was hard because I’d feel down due to the terrible state of the entire world, but that’s why I wanted to convey the power that colors possess through this exhibition. I myself feel encouraged when I see colors.

■SAIKO OTAKE COLOURIDER
Date: January 25th, 2024 (Thursday) to March 3rd (Sunday)
Venue: Sato Gallery 
Address: Insulindestraat 78, 3038 JB Rotterdam, Netherlands
Entrance fee: free 
Website: https://www.sato.art/ja/exhibitions/23/overview/

Translation Lena Grace Suda

The post Artist Saiko Otake on the Origins and the Present State of Her Art: Her First Solo Exhibition at a European Gallery, “COLOURIDER” appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

Cutting out images and collecting

At this exhibition, besides an array of her photographic works comprised of photos taken in the city of her production base, Tokyo, and her hometown, Uwajima-city in Ehime, she is also releasing her painting series, SPELLBOUND-MASK, which document her paintings of women’s faces. In addition, she is publishing her 14^th zine, UWAJIMA⇄TOKYO, which is comprised of the photos from the exhibition.

What’s interesting about her artwork is that she combines two photos to make one artwork. The respective photos were shot in two different cities—Tokyo and Uwajima—though, hardtell in which city they were taken At first, these pictures seem irrelevant to one another, yet once they are conflated, the various colors, shapes, and chain of images together form a whole new image.

Otake has been putting out photo albums as zines, with all having a single theme: A place where she had visited. The idea of publishing a zine originated from when she made a photo book for her graduation project at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, where she attended. For her, the process of making a zine is not a matter of shooting photos as artworks and collecting them into a photo book. Ultimately, she takes photos as a simple means of assembling materials for her works. “It’s like relentlessly gathering evocative images. When I take photos, I cut the unnecessary stuff out of the frame and only include what I want in the picture. Later, I line up these photos and assess the combinations—and that’s the fun part of the entire process. It feels as if the places, times and everything in the photos melt and fuse into one. This is how I make an art piece.”

No words or blank margin required. She wants to create a book of images only. And her will is morphed into the solid series of zines that go on to this day. She, presumably, acquired her sense of layout—in which her works are made with facing pages—from studying graphic design at Saint Martines University. It is quite astonishing that, in the beginning, she did not rely on Photoshop but used a free software instead to edit images. She allegedly took as many photos as possible of the things that came to her attention, and the zine was spawned from outputting the copious materials she had garnered and organically became an emanation of her multifaceted view of the world. It also shows how uniquely she captures the world.

She currently uses a compact digital camera in order to take many pictures and for precision. Where she differs as an artist is that she uses the camera as a tool to collect images that she likes rather than to make photographs into artwork.

“It can be any camera, even an iPhone, but mine is a bit old. Wherever I go just walk around and take lots of pictures. I think a compact digital camera is best for that.”

Uwajima and Tokyo—Two important cities

Uwajima and Tokyo are the cities incorporated in the exhibition title, as well as the motifs of the artworks. The artist told us that she has been going back and forth between the cities and they are both important places for her.

“I was born in Uwajima and grew up until high school. My father is from Tokyo, and I visited there often when I was little to see my grandparents and had fun in the city. Tokyo is an exciting city where time flies fast. I wanted to juxtapose the two cities—Uwajima and Tokyo—and that curiosity led to this exhibition. Before, I didn’t have a strong feeling for Uwajima, but now I’ve become more aware that the place is my home and where my family lives.”

Since Otake came back from London, she has been based out of Uwajima traveling back and forth to Tokyo, but now because of Covid, she has not been able to go back to Uwajima. It is a detrimental situation for the artist as her travels have been a direct inspiration on her creativity.

“I want to make sure that I always have fresh eyes, so I’m most dreaded of ‘getting used to things.’ Every time I left Uwajima, I was motivated to take more pictures when I was back, and even though Tokyo is an exciting city, I get less inspired if I’m trapped in the same area. I’ve been blessed to have been able to visit different places to produce and do exhibitions, and that’s been the source of my creative drive.”

Yet, on the flip side of being stuck in Tokyo, she has been able to solely focus on production. For canvas paintings of course, but the process of drawing in general is done in one place, and for the past one or two years, Tokyo has become an essential production base for her. This time, she released a collection of acrylic paintings, SPELLBOUND-MASK, and each piece emanates a strong presence, which is further enhanced as we now live in a world where people’s faces are veiled in face masks. Her photographs are remarkable often espousing vivid colors, yet the paintings are rendered in even more vibrant colors. The paintings and the photographs are quite distinct from each other as they use different motifs, however, they appear to be somewhat related.   

“I think the images that are in the photobook have become sources of inspiration for my paintings. Acrylic paints are bright colored and I use them to achieve my ideal colors—they are perfect for me.”     

She says, she also wants to try oil painting in the future.

“Now, I draw pictures with striking color contrasts, but I like the distinctive soft touch of oil paintings as well, so I want to experiment mixing colors and draw leisurely with oil paints. I self-taught myself how to paint pictures, and I do some research on different art mediums and drawing techniques; recently, I’m getting keener on studying various means of expression in art.”

Under any circumstance, I want to keep creating

It goes without saying, Otake’s father is a renowned painter, Shinro Ohtake. Since little, Otake drew pictures together with her father, and interacting with her father through creating things was her childhood life, and that experience has unequivocally led to what she does today, but she tells us that, in retrospective, she was a mundane, countryside middle school and high school girl. Even when she was studying in London, surprisingly, she wasn’t intending on living the rest of her life as an artist.

“In London, first, there was the Foundation course, then it went up to BA and there were couple further courses; and every time I was done with one, I thought about flying back home…. Especially since I knew deeply that it takes a lot to be like my father. But, at the same time, I knew, deep down, that I was always eager to create something. I never had the urge to live life as an artist, but I merely loved creating things, and broadly, I wanted to have a job that involves producing artworks, and that feeling has always stayed the same.”

After she graduated university, she rented an exhibiting space in a hair salon in London and opened her first solo exhibition, and when her artwork was sold on site, she finally swore to herself that she will pursue her career as an artist. Ever since, and to this day, she affirms that she wants to continue making artworks, whether the works sell or not.  

The pandemic gave me time to confront myself. Luckily, the exhibition was carried out without getting canceled, and I still get to work on my artworks every day.

“It’s a big deal for me that I haven’t been able to see my family for this long. Since I had to do everything on my own, it re-fueled me to get myself through this situation. Before, every exhibiting work was a challenge to me. In some parts, I deliberately keep a consistent style, but I feel like I should start altering and evolving my works little by little. Especially with my drawings, I feel like my emotions are explicitly revealed, and at the exhibition in Osaka (GALAGALAGALA that took place in Shinsaibashi PARCO from February 11^th to March 8^th, 2020) I wanted to pep up both myself and the viewers with colors. This exhibition is in its extent, but probably, with a slightly mellower vibe. I think it has toned down a bit from the dazzling state. In the future, I want to keep my artworks impactful but make them in softer tones.”

Currently, Otake’s co-exhibition with her younger sister, titled BS Channel ~ Black by Sister channel ~, is taking place at Pearl Book Shop & Gallery in Hatagaya, where her small monochrome collage artworks are displayed. The artist, who has an ambition of drawing a massive artwork, utters, “there are many more things I want to accomplish,” with a spark in her eyes. We can’t take our eyes off this burgeoning artist aspired to take diverse challenges.

Saiko Otake
Born in 1988. She graduated University of Arts London in 2016. With her multifaceted perspectives, she renders her unique worldview through drawings, paintings, photography, collages, and various other mediums. Her successful exhibitions include, solo exhibition EXUVIA (2016/London and Singapore), VISUAL SAMPLING (2018/Taichung),COSMOS DISCO(2019/Tokyo),GALAGALA(2020/Tokyo) and GALAGALAGALA (2021/Osaka)
Website：saikootake.com


■UWAJIMA⇄TOKYO
Dates: Currently open until July 31st
Location: Gallery Unlimited
Address: Roppongi Diamond bldg. 3F 1-26-4 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ward, Tokyo
Open hours: 1PM – 6:30PM (Last entry)
Closed: Sundays, Tuesdays, Holidays
Admission Fee: Free
Website: www.artunlimited.co.jp

■Saiko and Shoko Otake Duo Exhibition: BS Channel~Black by Sister Channel~
Dates: Currently open until August 1st
Location: Pearl Book Shop & Gallery
Address: 2-26-5 Nishihara, Shibuya-ward, Tokyo
Open hours: 1PM – 7PM
Closed: Mondays and Tuesdays
Admission Fee: Free
Website: 888books.jp

Edit Jun Ashizawa(TOKION)
Translation Ai Kaneda

The post Saiko otake drew her sense of the expansion by looking back her own roots appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.