Expressing the frequencies of the city, nature, and humanity

TAKA PRINCIPAL has been active as a photographer in magazines and advertisements since the early 1990s, and began working full-time as a contemporary art artist in 2024.

He has produced semi-three-dimensional works using resin and copper foil, applying striking fluorescent graphic effects to photographs of natural landscapes taken while traveling around the world, such as "W Frequency," which attempts to visualize the frequencies of cities, nature, and humans, and "Primitive Awake," which expresses a primitive awakening using the sun as a motif.

This exhibition, "Unstable Perfection," will feature eight mixed media works based on photography, including "W Frequency SP," a composite piece with Mount Aso as its motif, as well as 17 acrylic paintings that are said to convey a sense of free expression.

TAKA PRINCIPAL was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1974. He began taking photographs at the age of nine, wanting to "live life using all five senses," and began working as a photographer as soon as he graduated from high school. He moved to the United States in 1993 and worked as a printer for international photographers, including Magnum Photos, an international photography group in New York. Since returning to Japan in 2001, he has worked on commercial photography and creative direction for magazines and advertisements.

During the 30 years I have been working as a photographer, photography has gone digital, and with the spread of AI and social media, the environment has changed dramatically, and I have become convinced of two methods of expression: a mixed media approach that uses photographs as material to elevate them to contemporary art, and abstract painting that expresses energy and frequency using only color and texture.

Both pieces pursue the essence of physical analogue expression in the age of copy-and-paste. The theme is the visualization of energy. The works incorporating modern energy are likened to buried treasures that will be excavated in the future, and the processing of the works with resin and metal foil is imbued with the technology of the early 2000s and the preservation of primitive human sensibilities.

Painting as a place of freedom

The highlight of this exhibition is the paintings that express the ideas accumulated over the photographer's 30-year career. The acrylic paints are applied in thick layers, creating vivid colors and light brushstrokes.

The work is characterized by a texture that evokes the strength of the artist's core, and the way he depicts non-figurative works while expressing a disciplined beauty is something only a photographer can do. This is the true image of the exhibition title, "Unstable Perfection."

"I took photos in pursuit of freedom, and even when I thought I'd taken the right photo, I realized that when I developed and processed the image, it wasn't free at all. When I started painting, I felt that what was inside me naturally overflowed into the strokes, and my spirit was liberated. I felt that this was freedom!"

The overlapping wavelengths of civilization and culture create art

"I believe that art is a naturalized form of human sensation, and I do not view art as an authority that could be said to be the height of arrogance. Rather, I am conscious of incorporating what I sense with my five senses into my artworks and then returning it to the five senses. I have come to realise that art can only exist deep within the individual."

The cities I have lived in, New York, London, and now Hong Kong, have all been places that have made me think about art and are full of energy. At the same time, I love nature, and at one point I tried to move to Alaska because I wanted to live in the great outdoors, but I felt helpless in the harshness of the place. The skin sensations I have experienced in this life are connected to the theme of the frequency of cities, nature, and people.

He is currently absorbed in painting, and in his spare time, he takes his camera and goes into nature to take pictures. He says that the city and nature, photography and painting circulate well, and his desire to create never stops. It is not based on technology, nor is it left to nature. TAKA PRINCIPAL focuses on the wavelengths of "civilization", a technological product, and "culture", a spiritual product. The image of art is becoming clearer.