ARTIST
Taku Obata was born in 1980 in Saitama, Japan.
While studying art in the 90s, he was part of the hip-hop and break dance scene as a member of the Unity Selection Crew.
In 2008, he graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts and won the prestigious Tokyo Wonder Wall Grand Prix. He continues to exhibit in Japan, where the Nakamura Keith Haring Museum dedicated a solo exhibition to him in 2012.
In 2014, his career took on an international dimension when the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York dedicated a solo exhibition to him.
Taku Obata's work revolves around the body in movement, particularly in breakdancing.
Inspired by traditional Japanese artistic expressions such as Buto dance or Noh theater. The moving body becomes static through a life-size wooden sculpture.
A modern-day samurai, Taku Obata establishes an artistic journey between the traditional Japanese technique of wood carving and the modernity of his subject, emanating from vibrant hip-hop culture and showing a dynamic decomposition of movement.