Japanese artist, Shohei Takasaki is living and working in Japan, and making a name for himself as an unstoppably expressive and talented artist in the budding contemporary art scene. Creating works which display his powerful and freestyle approach to painting, Takasaki is fascinated by notions of desire and the physicality of sexual attraction between human bodies, bringing his imagery alive on its 2-D surfaces, pulsing and undulating in rich colors and dynamic lines.
Influenced by the key figures of the New York 1980s street culture scene Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring, and masters of expressionist painting like Picasso and Klimt, Takasaki’s provocative and joyful practice is, thrillingly,
self- taught. With no formal training, the brilliant creative abilities of this young artist are wonderful to see, with startlingly sharp and witty touches amongst a wider poetic depth and passion within.
Unafraid to walk the tightrope between abstraction and figuration, Takasaki distills his perception of the outside world and its inner individual passions, including his own, with neo-expressionist flair. There is something primitive and wild about Takasaki’s creations, and something romantic and insatiable too - like a beautiful beast willingly tamed by its captor, toying with the idea of escape.
Takasaki has exhibited across Japan and Australia, as well as collaborating with several fashion brands. He has new book of his works being published this year.
