SAITO TAKASHI (B.1943) HEISEI ERA

SAITO TAKASHI (B.1943)

HEISEI ERA, DATED 2002

A Japanese drawing, pencil on paper, depicting a hand clenched in a tight fist, inscribed lower left margin Te heiseiju yonen ku gatsu matsuhitsu ('Hand, 14th Year of Heisei, I completed this at the end of September'), signed and sealed by Saito Takashi; a paper label at the back repeating the inscription, framed and glazed, 46.50cm x 54.5cm.

Figures in Saito Takashi's works are often described as ghost-like, tormented and eerie. Living in almost complete solitude on top of a mountain in Fukushima, Saito first exhibited his work in 1963 at the Yomiuri Independent Exhibition. With no affiliation to any Japanese school, Saito continues to produce and display his idiosyncratic work around the country. In 2020, Sagawara Art Museum dedicated an exhibition to his art and to earthenware pieces by Raku Kichizaemon XV, illustrating their shared interest in depicting the truth of life and the many complexities of the human condition.