'What Remains Silent' Takeshi WEI Exhibition -Tokyo

The rolling hills depicted here are part of a real pastoral landscape in Itoshima, Fukuoka Prefecture, where Takeshi WEI lives and works. Yet even when looking upon such idyllic scenery, the artist cannot help but feel a sense of unease. Witnessing the conflicts and tragedies unfolding around the world every day, Takeshi reflects these feelings into the paintings.

In Takeshi’s serene, poetic paintings—a withered sunflower standing alone, and figures that might be seen as either girls or boys—the artist’s inner world quietly reveals itself. In contrast, the objects made from driftwood and discarded materials, as well as the open-fired ceramics created in Itoshima, convey a pure and joyful pleasure in making.

We invite you to explore Takeshi’s richly varied and lyrical world.

Mizoe Art Gallery
Kazunobu ABE

■Artist in Attendance
July 11th(Sat), 12th(Sun), 13th(Mon)

■Takeshi Wei
Born in 1947 in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.
Awards include the Encouragement Prize at the Nishinihon Art Exhibition, the Niki Prize, and the Excellence Award at the Yasuda Fire & Marine Art Foundation Encouragement Award Exhibition.
He was responsible for a range of illustration work, including copperplate engravings for Kannazuki, part of the Nishinihon Shimbun newspaper series “Monogatari no Kobako” (“A Little Box of Stories”), as well as for The Last Train by Tetsuzō Fukuzawa.
From 2019 to 2022, he created ceiling paintings for Kōzanji Temple on Mount Saiei in Bungotakada, Kunisaki, Oita Prefecture.