Photo by Olga Fedorova
About
Natsuki Takauji was born in Tokyo, Japan, and moved to NYC in 2008. She is an interdisciplinary visual artist practicing sculpture, painting, printmaking, installation, literature, and digital art. She received BA in Creative Writing from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, and studied Visual Art at The Art Students League of New York where she currently teaches Metal Sculpture and leads a public sculpture program, Works in Public in partnership with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. She has exhibited a series of public art including interactive sculptures “Window”, “Window II”, and “Confession”. She creates art as the ultimate way of communication to bridge between subjects, objects, and people.
Her recent “Shin Project” explores the idea of our beliefs and how it involves in our lives, which she had concerned growing up in a spiritually confused environment. Since she likes to experiment and observe how different materials react to each other, her works often have metal structures combined with soft materials such as fabric, paper, wax, oil, and clay.
Her collaborative socially engaging work “What Is Your Name?” was made during the ArtPort Residency at LaGuardia Airport, NY, and became a permanent collection of Port Authority of N&NJ in 2020. She received grants from Queens Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council, New York Foundation for the Arts, and The Art Students League of New York.
After she experienced the significance of public art, she co-founded a non-profit arts organization, The Artist Gardener NYC to activate green spaces in the local communities through arts and educational programs; she recently curated an exhibition “Echoes in Harlem” at West 132nd St. Community Garden, Manhattan, NY, and recently exhibited her installation "Tree, Temple, and My Scarf" at Two Coves Community Garden, Astoria, NY.
She has also curated exhibitions for Sculptors Alliance, Inc. with the grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
Instagram @theartistgardenernyc
略歴
東京都出身、早稲田大学第一文学部文芸専修卒業後、ニューヨークに渡り、ジャクソン・ポロック、ルイーズ・ブルジョワ、草間彌生など数々の著名アーティストを輩出してきた歴史あるアートスクール、The Art Students League of New Yorkにて絵画彫刻などを学び、ネサコーヘン賞など数々の賞を受賞。現在、同校にて金属彫刻の講師を勤める。
同校がNY市と提携した野外彫刻プログラム、Model to Monumentに選出され、ブランコが作品の一部となっている参加型の彫刻、 “Window” がマンハッタンのリバーサイド公園にて2014から2015年にかけて展示された。2022年より同プログラムをWorks in Publicとリニューアルし自身が牽引している。続く２作目となる”Window II”はNY州のライ公園にて2019から2020年にかけて展示され、現在はカナダ、オンタリオのOeno Galleryにて展示されている。
2018年にはヴェニス・ビエンナーレにおいて欧州文化センター主催 “Time Space Existence” 展にオイル噴水の彫刻 “Fatal, Fertile”を出展した。2020年のコラボレーション作品、“What Is Your Name?” はニューヨークのラガーディア空港で行われたアートポートプログラムにて人々との交流を通じて制作され、同作品はニューヨーク・ニュージャージー港湾管理局（Port Authority of NY and NJ）のコレクションとなっている。
またパブリックアートの経験を活かし、ハーレムのコミュニティガーデンを拠点にNY市内の公園などでアートイベントを行って地域活性化を計る団体、 The Artist Gardener NYCを2021年に発足させた。その他、自身が金属彫刻のディレクターを務めるNY彫刻家協会（Sculptors Alliance, NYC）主催の展示の企画、選考なども行っている。