Koji Takei

Untitled

2010

Koji Takei works reference synthetic cubism in the most literal of senses. In cubist artworks, the objects are broken up, analyzed and re-assembled in abstracted form. These pieces...

Creating sculptures of exquisite peculiarity is an art in which Takei excels. His elegantly crafted works embody the notion of the whimsical, contradictory and idiosyncratic. There is an immediately detectable sense of humor and quick wit about the sculptures in this exhibition. Beyond playfulness, however, Takei’s aim is to challenge the viewer to alter the way in which they look at reality. Taking cues from the Surrealists of the early 20th century, Takei transforms the mundane into the fantastic - and sometimes absurd. His work is a constant inquiry into the meaning of functionality and the perception of purpose. Much like Man Ray’s iconic readymade sculpture, The Gift (1921), and Meret Oppenheim’s infamous fur-covered teacup (Object, 1936), Takei recontextualizes those pragmatic objects that we immediately recognize. With his piece Soft Shoulders (2011), Takei deconstructs a wooden clothes hanger...

The artwork is a three-state model of an inorganic body, beginning with a black, alien-like rock formation, which gradually unfolds as it evolves, revealing its contents as a whitish...

The Big Door 3 is a Contemporary artwork realized in 1986 by the italian Contemporary artist Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Hand carved relief in mahogany woo...