Taro Takizawa’s work embodies an intuitive process of creating patterns through drawing, painting, carving, cutting, and printing. Continuously engaged mentally, he navigates the movement and form, seeking connections between contemporary influences, personal history, perspective, thought, Japanese heritage, and enduring memory.
Central to his artistic exploration is a fascination with water—its undulating ripples and reflective surfaces. His work seeks to capture the emotional essence of water's fluidity and continuity, employing recursive printmaking techniques and mark-making processes to emulate its dynamic movement. Patterns, both visual and conceptual, hold significant sway in his practice, echoing endlessly within his mind and manifesting in the repetitive acts of drawing, cutting, carving, and printing. Through this perpetual creation, he rediscovers and explores his Japanese heritage and culture, prompted by a realization of his previous inattentiveness and subsequent quest for cultural identity upon relocating to the United States.
His artistic journey is deeply intertwined with Japanese artistic traditions, particularly the woodblock prints (Ukiyo-e) of the 17th to 19th centuries. Waves, rivers, and the rendering of water in these prints serve as enduring sources of inspiration, manifesting in the flowing patterns that permeate his own work. Drawing upon the ethos of Zen practices, he imbues his creations with energy and emotion, responding intuitively to each mark and carving on the surface. Like Zen priests raking gravel in Zen gardens to enhance concentration, his artistic process is meditative and therapeutic, rooted in the present moment and the act of repetition.
Taro Takizawa received his BFA with a printmaking emphasis from Central Michigan University, and MFA in printmaking from Syracuse University. Takizawa has exhibited in various small and large group exhibitions nationally, and internationally in Poland, China, UK, Spain and Australia. He had his first solo exhibition during his residency at the Lawrence Arts Center in 2023. He has attended artist residencies at Chautauqua Institute, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Morgan Conservatory, GoggleWorks, and Lawrence Arts Center. He is a recent Emerging Artist Awardee at Southern Graphics Council International.