Takato Yamamoto

marked with artist's seal, framed
executed in 2009

Gallery Kogure, Tokyo

The work is in good condition overall. There are no apparent condition issues with this work. Framed under perspex and not examined out of frame.
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Drawing from the rich tradition of Ukiyo-e, the art of the 'floating world,' Takato Yamamoto  reinvents the ideas of impermanent beauty and escape from the everyday, mundane world, concepts which have captivated Japanese society for more than two centuries.

The art of the Ukiyo-e flourished in Japan during the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate from the early 17^th century.  Seeking to control the public and maintain social order in Edo, the government restricted the establishment of theatres, brothels, and teahouses to walled districts of the city; areas where all social classes could mingle and where style and money ruled. Ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints celebrated the exploits and sexual encounters of the various geisha, actors and visitors in these districts. More importantly, they represented a social phenomenon in which the rigid hierarchy of Japanese class structure was broken down to accept every member of society. The pleasure quarters attracted people from every walk of life, accepted their desires, their inner thoughts, and their demons.

Coining his work as 'Heisei Estheticism,' Yamamoto has built upon the long history of depicting the kabuki theatre and pleasure quarters of the Edo Period to envision a completely original form of fleeting beauty and poignancy. Derived from the current era name of Japan, Heisei Estheticism allows the concepts behind ukiyo-e to permeate into modern day. The term ukiyo was originally derived from the Buddhist worldview of the impermanent nature of life, however, during the Edo period this term was replaced by a homonym which meant 'to float' to express an attitude geared towards worldly delights and pleasure. Both interpretations exist in Yamamoto's world: a dark celebration of humanity, spirituality, and life and death.

The intricacy of Yamamoto's painterly technique accentuates the erotically-charged, yet ephemeral nature of his paintings. Twin Roses (Lot 655) is an exceptional work and exemplar of the mastery and depth of detail which emanates from his creations. It is as if the figures, made purposefully androgynous, are dissolving away into a blue and black abyss, caught in between this world and the next. Especially moved by the color black, Yamamoto believes it has the power to reveal many expressions, even reflect the delicate nature of the mental condition. Furthermore, the halos crowning the heads of the two figures lend a spiritual mood to this work. The precision of each fragment of bone and the perfect symmetry render the sensation of hypnosis on any viewer. In the same way the shapes of a Rorschach inkblot can elicit a wide spectrum of responses and different imagery to every person, Twin Roses possesses the ability to allow the viewer to see what he or she desires.

Yamamoto's oeuvre synthesizes the concepts of transience, the grotesque, and eroticism into mesmerizing paintings, bursting full with his private iconography and influences. The twisted flesh and ligaments in his paintings are derived from the entwined, gnarled roots of the trees in his hometown of Kamakura, roots which most people find disgusting, yet the artist finds intriguing and beautiful. Reoccurring symbols such skulls, bones, and muscles demonstrate a command and understanding of the human anatomy.  Human bodies are after all the axes around which eroticism was first brought to being and has since diffused into visual culture.  The eye of the artist sees the outer appearance, the skin that constitutes the conventional understanding of beauty, of the body as an entity just as sensual as its inner cavities, in all its exquisite goriness and convoluted splendour.  The richly layered flowers that punctuate the composition at every turn enhance the delicate femininity that seems to govern the aura of the picture, despite the gruesome truth of what is actually being depicted.   The calmness seen in the faces of his figures are strangely unnerving, yet appear to have this meditative quality. Infusing the same erotic energy into his works as Ukiyo-e prints, yet simultaneously asserting his own style drenched with personal spirituality and symbols, Takato Yamamoto has constructed a painted labyrinth that conceals as it reveals.