“Girls in Dreams”
December 25, 2020 - January 27, 2021
Young, beautiful and ambitious Chihiro Taki studied painting for five years in Florence after graduation from Tokyo University of the Arts. She returned back to Japan at the end of 2018 and “Girls in Dreams” is her first solo exhibition in Kyoto.
Chihiro Taki is a young artist now living in Osaka. She studied painting for four years in Florence after graduation from Tokyo University of the Arts. She returned back to Japan at the end of 2018.
Artist's paintings from her series “Diary of Dreams” reflect her dreams and fantasies. Taki recalls some experience from memory or sleep when she fantasizes and daydreams. Dreams remind the artist of her desires that she didn’t realize or fears that she pretended not to see. Drawing such a “dream” is an important act to fight fear and digest feelings. What appears in the picture is her alter ego, which is worried about becoming an adult. Taki wants to remain a girl in her dreams today and dreams are always an attempt to see the future.
Basically Taki works in two different techniques: tempera with oil or pencil with watercolor and gouache. The artist often works with gold or silver. Sometimes she makes a thick impasto like in “Napping” or tiny little golden dots as eyes in “Sleepless Night”. The attention to detail and nuances is crucial for creating fascinating and charming paintings that give a sense of reality in fantasy.
Featured Works
 Being Relived in Dreams2020 Gesso, oil paint, gold leaf, paper on wooden panel 27.5 x 22 cm |  Napping2020 Gesso, oil paint, gold leaf, paper on wooden panel 15 x 21 cm |  A Girl's Growth to Adulthood2010 oil and gold on wooden panel 194 x 112 cm |  The Annunciation2010 oil and gold on wooden panel 60.6 x 91cm |  Diary of Dreams:Pool without Exit2020 Gesso, oil paint, gold leaf, paper on wooden panel 15 x 21 cm |  Diary of Dreams: Tunnel2020 Gesso, oil paint, silver foil, paper on wooden panel 15 x 21 cm |
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 Diary of Dreams: Fight with Balloons2020 oil paint, paper on wooden panel 72.5 x 60.7 cm |  Diary of Dreams: Pool2020 Gesso, oil paint, gold leaf, paper on wooden panel 15 x 21 cm |  Diary of Dreams:Fall into space2020 Gesso, oil paint, gold leaf, paper on wooden panel 21 x 15 cm |  Diary of Dreams: Place for Reborn and Change2020 Gesso, oil paint, silver foil, paper on wooden panel 21 x 15cm |  Sleepless Night2020 Paper on panel, pencil, colored pencil, watercolor gouache, golden leaf 53 x 80 cm |  Throbbing Dream2019 Paper, pencil, colored pencil, watercolor gouache 18 x 18 cm |
 Memories about summer2020 Paper on panel, pencil, colored pencil, watercolor gouache, golden leaf 80 x 65 cm |  My Wether2020 Paper on panel, pencil, colored pencil, glass, watercolor gouache, golden leaf 15 x 21 cm |  Hide and Seek2019 paper on panel, pencil, colored pencil, watercolor gouache 51.5 x 36.4 cm |
Chihiro Taki, "Between Dreams and Reality", 2018, hand drawn cartoon
Chihiro Taki
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always remembered my dreams very well. Sometimes I’m not sure whether something happened in a dream, or in reality. The world of dreams is like the world of art, where I’m free to go places I’ve never been, swim through the skies, or anything else I choose.
I remember scary dreams especially well. It’s when I feel fear or pain that I find it even harder to look away. I feel that pain and pleasure are two sides of the same coin.
I enjoy the feeling of paralysis.
I’m enamored with the invisible being I feel then. I’ve slept in a way that makes it easier for that “person” to come. I feel like I can rid myself bit by bit of this unrequited love for a person who I’ll never meet each time I draw.
To me, the time I spend dreaming is just as important as the time I spend awake. By drawing the dreams that my heart and mind create, I’m able to love even the worst and most shameful parts of myself.
Chihiro Taki