Website of IKIRO - Be Alive Project / Takahiro Suzuki

Art Works



Installations


Duchanp
Works for Marcel Duchamp

This is one of the oldest art works in Takahiro's history. When Takahiro started making his works in the University, the question he had always, was what we could make for art after Duchamp. We were born after "Fountain" - a famous art work in which Duchamp made a urinal art piece. It was as if everything was possible to be an art piece in our time. Takahiro made a wheel piece which is also a famous work of Duchamp. If you turn the handle of this work, the wheel will turn round in a side way. It was a metaphor for a twisted art.

Real_and_World
Reality and the World

Takahiro made a cage in the gallery. There was a mirror in the cage and if you stood in front of the mirror, you might feel you were in the cage. You can't tell a lie to yourself when you see yourself in the mirror, but on the other hand you sometimes tell lies in your daily life and there are lots of lies in this world. For some, the inside of the cage might be much more pure than the outside.

Head_Re
Brain Reform

Takahiro likes simple expressions. Simple could be very complicated sometimes. He thinks common senses are not always true. If you doubt something, everything could not be absolute in this world.

561x823
561 VS 823

In Japan there is a typical traditional sport for elementary schools. It is called “Tamaire”. A red team and a white team compete by putting the team's color balls into their team's baskets on the tops of long bows. Children enjoy this game. In this game the team which could put more balls in the basket than the other one will be winner. We have this sport just for fun, but there are many types of competitions or battles in this world.

Project_Love
Project Love

In Japan, children learn how to write calligraphy in elementary schools. If you go to a school you can see the children's calligraphy on the wall in the room usually. Somehow Takahiro never forgets such a sight of his childhood. He thought this kind of memory could be art. So he asked some schools that children write the word "Love" in the calligraphy class and put the pieces in the room as usual. Then Takahiro collected all the "Love" and installed in the gallery. He realized the words can influence people and it became a hint for a later IKIRO project.

Milk
Over Spilt Milk

Takahiro took the idea of this installation from the proverb "it is no use crying over spilt milk". This is one of his favorite proverbs. It has been giving positive thinking to him when he faces difficulty. In this period Takahiro tried many kinds of techniques he had acquired from part-time jobs.

Metal_Sky
Metal Sky

Takahiro made a stuffy dark room in the gallery. When people entered the room they couldn't see anything and few minutes later their eyes would get used to the darkness. The photo above was taken with extra lights to show details. The impression of the dark room was hopeless, but there was a crack in the ceiling which people could feel blue sky over.

Time
Advanced Time

Takahiro advanced all the clocks in the public spaces of the Spiral Building by one hour. After people realized the clocks were wrong and recovered from this shock, they reconsidered their relationship with the elusive entity of time. Time was relative to their watch or the position of the sun in the sky. The idea of this work is we never know if we really share the same time in this world.

Rein
Reincarnation

The title of this work is "Reincarnation". Takahiro wanted to express life has both a deep aspect and an easygoing aspect. There was a basketball painted in Japanese lacquer on the floor and the writings of IKIRO covered all over the room. There was  American pop music playing in the room. The work had a balance of a serious side and a funny side.

Double_S
One

It was held for the 40th anniversary of galerie 16, one the oldest contemporary art galleries in Kyoto. Muraoka put salt for his installation. Takahiro put the metal box, which was the remake of his work "One" in 1991. Recruited artists by Takahiro who wanted to stay in the box for the exhibition could stay in the box for 8 hours a day with his or her small art work in the gallery. Takahiro stayed in the box at the opening with a mirror.



Installation 1989 - 2002 / Takahiro Suzuki

Before Takahiro started the IKIRO Project, he created many types of art. Here are some example photos. For each artwork he considered each concept. He also tried using new materials he had gotten, and techniques he had learned. He thought the best way to know art was materializing and experiencing. Takahiro thinks that without this period in his life, he would never have gotten the idea for the IKIRO Project.

 

Performances


One
One

Takahiro was much inspired by Joseph Beuys. There was an opportunity to put his artwork in Beuys's exhibition in Tokyo, and Takahiro was chosen as a one of the artists who applied. He put the metal box in the space and tried sleeping for 8 hours a day for one week. He wanted to use his body unconsciously in his work. Rudolf Steiner inspired Joseph Beuys. In the book Takahiro read Rudolf Steiner said when a human being slept it would be similar to a plant.

Baby
One

In this period Takahiro tried using his body in many ways. He leaned Yoga or African Dance to get more possibilities for his performances. Mostly he didn't get satisfied with his performance, but the important thing was to experience through his body. Yasunoyi Tanikoa was good partner to take the photos of Takahiro’s experimental performances.

Ginza
Performance

Takahiro tried using his body for art as freely as possible. Sometimes he made the decision of what he would perform through intuition. For example, once he did an action drawing in front of the Diet Building. He made a video work with this performance later. The reason why he did this was that he wanted to be the role of blood and stimulate the brain of Japan. He also made a tank painted with funny animals and flowers, and went around the Diet Building with it another day.

Breth
Breath

Takahiro stayed in the box with soil for 8 hours. He inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon dioxide. One side of the hose was connected to a duct to get fresh air from outside, and the other side was sunk into water in a bottle to make bubbles and noise. At that time he always looked for the possibilities of using his body in the art. In this exhibition the installations were changed everyday for one week, and Takahiro was somewhere with his body in the installation.

Arise
Arise

The more performances Takahiro tried the more expressions with people he was interested in. One time Takahiro performed with contemporary dancers on the stage. He choreographed the dance and designed the costume and stage sets.
It consisted of 5 scenes for one hour. After that he started collaborating with dancers or musicians constantly.

India
Made in India

Takahiro wanted to have a distance from art and Tokyo to reconsider his life. He took a trip to India. In the holy town Pushkar, he performed with balloons on his head. He painted himself white and wore a white costume and hung around the town. Indians were interested in his look and took him from place to place. At the end Takahiro was painted with Indian traditional color powder, and he danced in front of an audience with Indian music. This experience gave Takahiro a new way to enjoy his life. He got positive energy in India and it would help him to go to the next step of art.

Time_Under_Ground
Buried Time

Takahiro used to work as a construction worker for living. He learned lots of things from this job. The work was very tough and strict but the physical and mental toughness gave him a realistic feeling. On the other side, making art was not strong enough to feel such a reality for him. One day he had an idea to perform in a construction site. He and the other workers painted their faces white, and did an action sinking the clock into the hole. This performance had the meaning the time and labor they used under the ground would be closed with a lid of a manhole, when the construction was over.

Dance in the
Dance in the Cemetery

Takahiro danced in the cemetery for ancestor worship. This action was inspired by the experience in India. When Takahiro was in India, he saw Indians believe in reincarnation and they celebrate someone's death and passage to the next life. He thought it was a really beautiful idea. So he expressed himself with his own style.

C_and_O
Creator & Operator

Takahiro was hung from the ceiling for 8 hours. He wore a Japanese samurai costume. He got switches and he operated some electrical goods. This work has 2 aspects, modern Japan and Japan at the time of national isolation. We have a history that Matthew Calbraith Perry came to Japan with black ships and then we opened our country to foreign trade and diplomatic relations. In this exhibition the installations were changed everyday for 2 weeks, and Takahiro was somewhere as a part of his installation each day.

Red_Yellow_Black
Red Yellow Orange and Black

Takahiro put his head into a refrigerator in the gallery. It stands for the bighead of human beings. We sometimes need to cool down to reflect on ourselves quietly.
In this time Takahiro had already moved to New York from Tokyo to distance himself from art in Japan. So this exhibition was like a last spark of his Tokyo period for him. In this exhibition the installations were changed everyday for 2 weeks, and Takahiro was somewhere as a part of his installation each day.

Evolution.
Garbage Evolution

This exhibition was organized by a city government office, against the unlawful dumping of garbage. Takahiro made statues of apes and installed them with plastic bags along the river. He stood in the position like the above photo, and sometimes the audience stood instead of him to get a photo taken. The material of the statues was the garbage he collected.



Performance 1991 - 2003 / Takahiro Suzuki

Takahiro enlarged the field of his creations. He started from concrete paintings and abstract paintings, then he made installations or conceptual arts, and then he naturally became interested in performance arts. He tried many kinds of experimental performances at many kinds of locations. Sometimes the audiences of his performances were trees or dead people or just the sky.

 


Paintings / Objects


"Exist℃" Oil Paintings

Objects / 1990-2011

"One" Paintings & Objects / 1991

Paintings & Objects 1990 - 2012 / Takahiro Suzuki

Takahiro paints oil paintings and makes sculptures. Here are some example photos. Creating by hand is very important for Takahiro. The IKIRO Project took on this policy. Takahiro writes and paints IKIRO many times but it is never the same IKIRO.



Photo Works


blue_body
Blue Body

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany, and shown at galerie 16 in Kyoto Japan in April 2012.

green_way
Green Way

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany, and shown at galerie 16 in Kyoto Japan in April 2012.

yellow_bees
Yellow Bees

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany, and shown at galerie 16 in Kyoto Japan in April 2012.

red_moon
Red Moon

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany, and shown at galerie 16 in Kyoto Japan in April 2012.

white_eat
White Eat

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany, and shown at galerie 16 in Kyoto Japan in April 2012.

white_snow
White Snow

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany, and shown at galerie 16 in Kyoto Japan in April 2012.



"Exist℃” Photo Works 2012 / Takahiro Suzuki

Takahiro has been continually making photographic works since 2005. He took them in New York, Berlin, Japan and so on. Taking pictures is like creating a new reality for Takahiro. He is interested in the expressions between natural and artificial. Mostly he gets the ideas for photographic works from the subconscious or his dreams.






egg
Eggs

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

land_1
Land 1

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

light
Light

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

fish
Fish

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

hope_1
Hope

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

hope_2
Hope 2

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

bird
Bird

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

moonlike
Moonlike

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

air
Air

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.

land_2
Land 2

This is one photo of "Exist℃” Series. This series were taken in Berlin Germany and Japan.



Photo Works 2012 - 2008 / Takahiro Suzuki

Takahiro has been continually making photographic works since 2005. He took them in New York, Berlin, Japan and so on. Taking pictures is like creating a new reality for Takahiro. He is interested in the expressions between natural and artificial. Mostly he gets the ideas for photographic works from the subconscious or his dreams.



Videos



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Exist℃ / Takahiro Suzuki

Video work / 15 minutes
©Takahiro Suzuki 2012

March 2012 Remake / May 2005 Original / Performers : Yoko IIda, Hiroko Nakamura, Yoko Kuroda

This video is made in a sensuous way including the subconscious. We are existing in this world. It seems that sometimes it’s for a reason and sometimes for no reason. We eat, we talk, we work, we sleep, and we live, and we die someday. Time passes in front of us. That's the rule in this world.







© Takahiro Suzuki, all rights reserved


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