Maki Fine Arts is pleased to present Akira Takaishi’s Inner Surface–a much-awaited second solo show by the artist, four and a half years in the waiting–starting Friday, February 19, through March 21, 2021.

Since 2019, Takaishi’s works have been represented by the style seen in his “Inner Surface” series. By spray painting over the surface, an optical illusion is created, making the physical textures of the paintings–the brushstrokes and the thickly-layered paint–look printlike. The abundance of paint, the wide uninterrupted brushstrokes, and the paint droplets clearly show that the paintings were created by hand. Yet, the spray paint adds an element of control, adjusting the brightness and varying the color tones, giving the painting an appearance of shimmer and turning it into a flat surface devoid of materiality.

Takaishi has been known for creating works that navigate the border between image and matter, for example, by revealing cross sections of the support mediums. Inner Surface, however, can also be seen as an extension of his persistent pursuit to examine paintings as phenomena.

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Inner Surface

Beyond the glass is a flimsy scene
Pictures pasted onto 3D polygons
Filters, layers, and textures
Non-woven textiles, urethane, and polyester films
When applied remotely, the textures are created from images
All around us, we are surrounded by these surfaces

Is it possible to bore a hole in that surface world?
For a split second, a crack runs through the surface
And we hope for a glimpse of the world deep inside
But it quickly reverts to the flat, flimsy scene

A painting is a flat object hanging on the wall in front of us
Yet its surfaces are multiple instead of one
The imaginary surface equals illusion
Made up by shadows cast onto our world by two dimensions
A dimension that is one step higher (n+1)
And a dimension that is one step lower (n-1)

Using paintings, I hope to capture the moment right before what resides deep within the cracks of the world’s surface layers turns back into an ordinary exterior

Akira Takaishi

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Akira Takaishi

Akira Takaishi was born in 1985 in Kanagawa, Japan and graduated from the Musashino Art University with an MA in oil painting. He creates works that navigate the border between image and matter by manipulating perspectives, revealing cross sections of the support mediums, and drilling the surfaces. His recent exhibitions include Group Show of Contemporary Artist 2020: Sunburn After Swimming in the Painted Pool (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 2020), Descending Garden (solo, clinic, 2019), Three Bodies, About 180 trillion Cells (group, Maki Fine Arts, 2017), Underground Water Vein (solo, Maki Fine Arts, 2016), My Hole, Holes In Art (group, Space 23℃, 2015), and Someone like Champollion (solo, Kodama Gallery, 2013).