User:Antcelena/sandbox/Daisuke Takakura

= Daisuke Takakura =

Daisuke Takakura, born 1980, is an emerging Japanese contemporary visual artist, photographer and designer, identifying mediums within fine art portraits and staged photos incorporating clone photography practices. He was born in Saitama, a city 30 kilometers north of central Tokyo and is best known for his photographic series titled Monodramatic which he is currently working on a book for. Daisuke focuses on capturing the internal dialogue and personalities we bear as individuals.

Early Life and Education
Daisuke was born in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. He later moved to Nerima, Tokyo, where he still currently resides. He studied law at Rikkyo University in Tokyo while also taking drama classes on the side. In 2002 Daisuke graduated from Rikkyo, receiving a law degree, but was very much inspired by an American Photographer named Ryan McGinley living in New York. In 2003 McGinley was named Photographer of the year by American Photo Magazine and became the youngest artist to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. After seeing a photo titled Cyclone in 2008 by Ryan McGinley in which Daisuke seen endless beauty he didn’t quite understand and was impressed by its ability to move him. In 2013 Daisuke became interested in photography, beginning to experiment with all the photographic possibilities while harnessing the expressive power of theater. He also drew inspirations from photographers such as Alex Prager, Andreas Gursky, Yuiki Onodera, and Rinko Kawauchi. Daisuke participated in photo contests and was disappointed in the feedback he received for his work, or lack there of. This made him determined to create work that would move people the way he had been. His experiences as an actor play a major role in his work and has become a vital element in his creative process. The training Daisuke received in drama facilitated his abilities in directing the group of actors for his popular series Monodramatic.



Art Career
Daisuke, artist, photographer and designer is ranked among the top 10,000 in Japan and top 100,000 globally for his work. Before he established his career as a photographer, he had been training as a theatre actor, studying as a university law student and becoming a self-taught graphic designer. Daisuke started taking photos with his mobile phone but when asked in an interview what camera he uses now he replied that he uses the Nikon D800 and Sony a7R II because they have abundant capabilities, and they look cool. He was featured in the Emon Photo Gallery in Tokyo whose mission is to showcase emerging contemporary photographers who are “unbound by convention in their creativity, and enigmatic masters whose contribution to photography is undeniable, yet largely unknown outside Japan” His first exhibition was in 2015, Titled Brave New World And was showcased at the DOX Center for Contemporary art in Prague. The Brave New World Exhibition project looks into current social situations like consumerism, social control, and the media with dystopic visions of the future. His most widely known series titled Monodramtic focuses on the several aspects of one personality as they come face to face as one but separate. Daisuke explores the definition of self and the many different facets that make up personality. Although monodrama is usually a single actor who performs in an opera or play, Daisuke incorporates the embodiment of monodrama in his series. His works containing unique perspectives have been introduced in numerous media, praising him not only in Japan but all over the world.

Noteworthy Photographic Series
I.	Brave New World, 2014: Depicting a future that has already formed before our eyes focusing on the media world, social monitoring, the consumer society, and the warnings of what may lie ahead.

II. Monodramatic, 2016: “Somewhere out in the world, your other selves are lurking—alternative versions of you from moments that could have been or will be in the future. But what if all these selves came together at once…? Maybe somewhere, your self, completely different, exists—but it’s not really your self now” are the narrative words Daisuke uses to describe his work in this series.

III. Loose Polyhedron, 2016: Polyhedron is defined as a figure with many faces. This series, derived from Monodramatic, is another theater play concept and focuses on the photoshoot models’ emotions expressing various aspects of them, and repressed feelings. Before taking a photograph, Takakura asked the models to write their feeling on a pentagon chart and researched their feelings beforehand. This project was intended to focus on the multi-faced feelings of our youth themed with all emotions.

IV. Loop Pieta, 2018: This series was inspired by one of Michelangelo’s masterpiece Pietà, which is a sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus, the body of her son. The theme Daiske portrays in this series is the bonded parent and child relationship of love and blood. Daiske traveled to Italy to study the sculpture which is housed in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. In the photos a woman is holding her cloned self in her arms depicting both a child and a mother, similar to that of the sculpture.

V. Vein, 2019: Like the title suggests, this series is focused on veins, roots, lines, things that tie us together and pull us apart all at once. "The branches in this body, with or without flowers and fruits, are always alive" Daisuke quotes while ﻿explaining his photos in his series.



Accomplishments
I.	Fictional narratives Finalist in LensCulture’s, Visual Story Telling Awards

II. 2nd Place in People Category, International Photography Awards 2015

III. Two exhibits featured in Tezukayama Gallery

IV. Photographer of the Day in Resource Magazine

V. Featured on CNN and The Guardian.

VI. “Crowd“ from Monodramatic series was chosen as the main visual image for the Fotofever, photography fair in Paris.

Projects, Exhibitions, and Bodies of Work
I.	Brave New World, 2015, featured at the DOX Center for Contemporary Art

II. Various Life, 2015, displayed at the FACTOTUM Gallery in Japan

III. Monodramatic, 2013-2016 featured in the Tezukayama Gallery in Tokyo

IV. Loose Polyhedron, 2016 featured in the Tezukayama Gallery in Tokyo

V.	“Crowd” from Monodramatic series featured in 2018 Fotofever annual Photography fair in Paris.

VI. Clerestory, 2019