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 · 1ST THURSDAYS WELLINGTON WEST ART WALK ·

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1ST THURSDAYS WELLINGTON WEST ART WALK

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 · Norman Takeuchi ·

“CROSS CURRENTS”

April 27th to May 30th, 2010  

Vernissage (Meet the artist):
Sunday, May 2nd, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. 

Cross Currents is an apt title for this show.

Norman Takeuchi’s work is a moving expression of his struggle and ultimately his success in finding the harmony, resolution and beauty that comes with inheriting two distinct cultures. For Norman, being born to Japanese parents and raised in predominantly white Anglo-Saxon Vancouver in the 1950s was not a clash of cultures but a melding of strong, diverse currents.

He now draws deeply on memories of his family's relocation during World War II. They, along with other Japanese-Canadians in B.C. were forced to evacuate their homes on the coast and move inland. “Like all other Japanese families, my parents had to leave almost everything behind, including dad’s new truck, which I think broke his heart."

While he and his two young brothers had a good time “running around the countryside, it was our parents who suffered, trying to make ends meet. They probably dealt with the upheaval with a sense of resignation – shikata ga nai – and determination to make the best of it.” Following the war, his family returned to Vancouver, where Norman eventually attended the Vancouver School of Art. “That period of my life has a lot to do with how I approach my work,” he says. He was strongly influenced by, among others, celebrated cross-cultural painter Jack Shadbolt who was teaching at the school.

It was nearly thirty years before Norman could acknowledge and reflect the cross-cultural tug running through his veins.

In 1995 he attended an exhibition of “stunning” kimonos at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Homage to Nature: Landscape Kimonos of Itchiku Kubota. “Those kimonos triggered in me an interest in my Japanese heritage and I started to feel that I would like to do something about it in my work. The kimono stayed in my head and it became a kind of symbol of my ethnic background.”

Norman began combining the traditional shape of the kimono with contemporary imagery and painting techniques. “Those pictures reflect my identity as a member of two cultures. Up to that point, my Japanese heritage had played little part in my art."

In Cross Currents, Norman continues to reflect those divergent yet symbiotic cultures. In Sudden Showers #1, a familiar traditional Japanese woodblock print is combined with European-influenced abstract shapes and colour fields. In Sumo, a bright red hand with chopsticks is imposed upon the image, evocative of pop art and graffito. Shocks of the new overlay and compete with the old woodcut.

Becky Rynor
Don Monet
Cube Gallery, Ottawa

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 · CUBE SALON ·

Various Events

Starting Saturday February 13, 2010  

Cube Salon is a series of performance evenings themed around staged readings, music, and poetry. Each evening is presented in the viewing salon of Ottawa’s Cube Gallery and is hosted by spoken word artist Kel Parsons.

Tickets are $20.00
Call 613 728 1750
Visit the Salon on line at: Cube Salon

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 · carpe diem ·

cube salon series

April 17, 2010  

“Procrastini” is the name of Jonathan Koensgen’s playwriting debut on the Ottawa stage. Since he was first cast professionally at the age of 11, Koensgen has racked up stage and screen credits too numerous to list, and Cube Salon is thrilled to be working with him as he turns his theatre craft to the written page. With musical support from recording artist John Carroll.

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