Biography
Natsuki Takauji was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, currently lives and works in NYC. She is a faculty member at The Art Students League of New York and a director of Metal Sculptures at Sculptors Alliance for which she curated an exhibition "METAL" at Governors Island in 2017 and a virtual exhibition “Flux” in 2020. Solo exhibition venues include Berkeley College Gallery, Manhattan, NY, and Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY. Most recent group exhibitions include "A special Exhibition for 130th Anniversary of National Association of Women Artists" at the Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster NJ in 2019, curated by Jeffrey Wechsler, a former senior curator of the Zimmerli Art Museum, and "Time Space Existence" at Palazzo Mora hosted by European Cultural Centre during the 16th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy in 2018. Her work is held as private collections internationally and one of her oil fountain sculptures was acquired as a permanent collection of Yuko Nii Foundation. A collaborative public sculpture “Tree of Life” at Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY, as well as her first large-scale, interactive swing public sculpture, "Window", which was exhibited at Riverside Park 61st Street, Manhattan, were exhibited in 2014-15, and a succeeding swing sculpture "Window II" was installed at Rye Town Park, Rye, NY in 2019. She collaborated with Korean artist Haksul Lee on a socially engaging art project in the NYC community, "What Is Your Name?" which was made possible by the ArtPort Residency Program at the LaGuardia Airport, Queens, NY, and was selected in a group exhibition "Mother Tongue" of The Immigrant Artist Biennial, 2020. Her latest interactive sculpture "Confession" was exhibited in September 2020, at the West 132th Street Harlem Community Garden of NYC Parks GreenThumb.
Artist Statement
I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, in a religiously confused and sexually oppressed environment. Even though my family and I are non-religious like most Japanese, I spent twelve years attending a strict Catholic school. My experience of attending this school was often troubling.
The school was located near a controversial shrine called Yasukuni, which was frequented by extreme nationalists. They gathered because it enshrines over a thousand convicted war criminals, along with many other war victims. In order to get to and from school and other parts of my life, I had to ride an overly crowded subway with the omnipresent threat of sexual assault or neglected by others, which was a given in the Tokyo system. Even if I made it through the day without attracting trouble from these men, I still had to deal with the gender inequality that being a woman in Japan forced on me in every public interaction. All of this led me to doubt and question the professed spirituality, ethics, perception and belief system in all societies.
Therefore, my work is deeply influenced by these aspects. For me, creating art is the effort to liberate myself from any form of suppression. It comes from the desire to conceive what need to be said or seen, and will not be otherwise.
Natsuki Takauji was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, currently lives and works in NYC. She is a faculty member at The Art Students League of New York and a director of Metal Sculptures at Sculptors Alliance for which she curated an exhibition "METAL" at Governors Island in 2017 and a virtual exhibition “Flux” in 2020. Solo exhibition venues include Berkeley College Gallery, Manhattan, NY, and Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY. Most recent group exhibitions include "A special Exhibition for 130th Anniversary of National Association of Women Artists" at the Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster NJ in 2019, curated by Jeffrey Wechsler, a former senior curator of the Zimmerli Art Museum, and "Time Space Existence" at Palazzo Mora hosted by European Cultural Centre during the 16th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy in 2018. Her work is held as private collections internationally and one of her oil fountain sculptures was acquired as a permanent collection of Yuko Nii Foundation. A collaborative public sculpture “Tree of Life” at Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY, as well as her first large-scale, interactive swing public sculpture, "Window", which was exhibited at Riverside Park 61st Street, Manhattan, were exhibited in 2014-15, and a succeeding swing sculpture "Window II" was installed at Rye Town Park, Rye, NY in 2019. She collaborated with Korean artist Haksul Lee on a socially engaging art project in the NYC community, "What Is Your Name?" which was made possible by the ArtPort Residency Program at the LaGuardia Airport, Queens, NY, and was selected in a group exhibition "Mother Tongue" of The Immigrant Artist Biennial, 2020. Her latest interactive sculpture "Confession" was exhibited in September 2020, at the West 132th Street Harlem Community Garden of NYC Parks GreenThumb.
Artist Statement
I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, in a religiously confused and sexually oppressed environment. Even though my family and I are non-religious like most Japanese, I spent twelve years attending a strict Catholic school. My experience of attending this school was often troubling.
The school was located near a controversial shrine called Yasukuni, which was frequented by extreme nationalists. They gathered because it enshrines over a thousand convicted war criminals, along with many other war victims. In order to get to and from school and other parts of my life, I had to ride an overly crowded subway with the omnipresent threat of sexual assault or neglected by others, which was a given in the Tokyo system. Even if I made it through the day without attracting trouble from these men, I still had to deal with the gender inequality that being a woman in Japan forced on me in every public interaction. All of this led me to doubt and question the professed spirituality, ethics, perception and belief system in all societies.
Therefore, my work is deeply influenced by these aspects. For me, creating art is the effort to liberate myself from any form of suppression. It comes from the desire to conceive what need to be said or seen, and will not be otherwise.
Contact
takaujinatsuki@gmail.com