Daisuke Takeya
eyes of a child

Takeya

‘Children’s artwork – it has two meanings. Artwork created by children and artwork depicting children.’

This book is self-directed/published as part of the artist’s project, “eyes of a child,” which is to investigate creativity of children and aesthetics of their artwork as an art teacher/artist by creating reproductions of works produced by children tracing the process of their art making in order to understand and clarify the drawing style of each student as well as the feelings that he or she intended to express (from the eyes of a child), and then by drawing portraits of each student (into the eyes of a child). The project was developed over five years of teaching elementary school art classes at La Citadelle International Academy of Arts and Science in Toronto.

Eighty-eight colour pages in English and Japanese featuring a simultaneous showing of oil and pencil portraits of students and reproductions of works produced by these students during the class, as well as text by Goro Suzuki, professor emeritus at Atomi University, Japan, dialogue with Atsuko Harada, who was the artist’s grade one homeroom teacher and ex-principal of Nagae Public Elementary School, and dialogue with third graders who were the students of the artist.

The book is designed by Japanese package designer Akiyo Kamijyo and Canadian graphic designer Robert Moreau (York University Visual Arts programme graduate) to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Japan Canada diplomatic relations.

“eyes of a child” project has been exhibited in various venues around the globe, including Pouch Cove Foundation, Newfoundland, Canada (2008), Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2006), Wagner Collage Art Gallery, New York, U.S.A. (2005), Galeria Punto Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan (2005), Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto, Japan (2005), Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art Annex, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (2005), Prince Takamado Gallery at the Canadian Embassy, Tokyo, Japan (2004).

Published by Ikkei Shobo Press
ISBN: 4-87074-137-7
22.5 x 30 cm, 88 pages, colour offset, 2008
Edition of 1,000
$40 (CAD)

Available from the artist.

Daisuke Takeya is a Toronto-based contemporary artist whose practice is comprised of the exploration of nature and plausibility in contemporary society and hinges on all kinds of double meanings. He has a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and received a MFA from the New York Academy of Art and is a recent recipient of mid-career grant from the Ontario Arts Council in 2009. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Japan and North America, including solo exhibitions at Christopher Cutts Gallery, Confessions of Love at XPACE, BAGART at Art Metropole, Titles, a series of book-store based exhibitions touring in Canada, Roppongi Hills Club, The Japan Foundation, Toronto, Nuit Blanche, Wagner College Gallery, Kyoto Art Center, and the Prince Takamado Gallery at the Embassy of Canada in Japan. He is currently the programming director of Gendai Gallery (www.gendaigallery.org) and is represented by Christopher Cutts Gallery in Canada (www.cuttsgallery.com). Daisuke’s web-site is located at www.daisuketakeya.com.

Ikkei Shobo Press is a publishing company based in Tokyo specializing in books in education whose authors are often elementary school teachers at work. It was founded by a daughter of Kihaku Saito, a legendary teacher in education in Japan.