Hello, Here I Am - Hardcover

Takamatsu, Kazuki

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 8898565119 ISBN 13: 9788898565115

Publisher: Drago International Entertainment, 2015

Kazuki Takamatsu’s intricate fusion of traditional and modern techniques is as beautiful as it is visionary. His book, Hello Here I Am provides an opportunity to own a unique collection of some of the most innovative and eye-catching artwork in recent history.
His hand-painted monochrome objects are created using a mixture of watercolor and opaque white pigments in gouache. After meticulously painting multiple gouache layers, Takamatsu colors each individual pixel of the object a different shade of grey, resulting in an astonishing sense of depth and surrealism. “His hologram-like, female characters look digitized, though they’re executed entirely by hand.”-Hi-Fructose
This extreme attention to detail allows the viewer to experience Takamatsu’s fantastical depictions of Japanese women in an immersive presentation. “Kazuki’s beautiful depth map paintings read like misty x-rays of anime fantasies” where “graphic spiritual essences leap off their surfaces” -Juxtapoz
This book presents a hypnotic journey into a surrealist realm few have seen before. “This fairy tale is not like the others. Dark and violent stories where floating melancholic childish figures are either in despair or in possession of lethal killing machines. Little melancholic lolitas posing with innocence create an atmospheric, mystic world” –Yatzer

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About the Author:

Thirty-six-year-old Kazuki Takamatsu was born in Japan, a country known as much for its picturesque landscapes as for its high rate of suicide, a duality that contributes to the beautiful sadness that permeates his work. He attended the Department of Oil Painting at Tohoku University of Art & Design and graduated in 2001. Takamatsu currently lives and works in Sendai, which was devastated by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami back in 2011. The event can still be felt in Takamatsu’s work which mixes memories of sorrow with a deep sense of hope and spiritual positiveness in a spiral of emotions. Takamatsu’s depth-mapping technique is as unique as it is painstakingly intricate, the artist mixes traditional and modern techniques by fusing classic drawing, airbrush and gouache painting with computer graphics. Takamatsu’s creative process begins with Shadow/Deapth mapping, a sort of projective shadowing process by which shadows are added to 3D computer graphics used both in pre-rendered scenes, in realtime and many console and high-end PC games. Hand painted monochromed based objects are obtained using the method of mixing watercolor pigment with an opaque white pigment in a watercolor vehicle (made with gum arabic). It is traditionally referred to Gouache, a name coming from the Italian Guazzo, litterally meaning mud. Gouache is ideal for illustration and photoreproduction. Since the Gouache paint imparts most of the texture and these surfaces help to create a perfectly flat paint film on, Gouache paintings are typically done on hot pressed papers or smooth art boards. Takamatsu holograph-like effect is executed entirely by hand, using a methicolous thecnique in which every pixel on the object is a shade of gray that is proportional to its distance from the object looking at it. The match of these two techniques give a real sense of surrealism and astonishing depth. Since 2009 Takamatsu collaborates with the Tokyo-based Gallery Tomura, with whom he took part at Tokyo Art Fair and Art Asia Miami during Scope Art Fair. His art was also exhibited at Rias Ark Museum in Kesennuma – Miyagi. Takamatsu had also extremely successful solo and group exhibitions in USA-based established art galleries such as RoqLaRue in Seattle and Corey Helford in Los Angeles. With the Italy-based Dorothy Circus Gallery he’s having the second solo exhibition (2013 and 2015) and he was featured in the institutional exhibition “Lacrima Acquarium” (2013) which took place at the Acquarium Museum – Casa dell’Architettura in Rome. On 2014 he conquered the Cover of the Hi Fructose magazine.

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