I first came across Yukio Takahashi and his work whilst researching a trip to Tokyo. I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting artists and gallery spaces – I struck gold on both accounts this time. As luck would have it our trip coincided with Mr.Takahashi’s exhibition in the ultra cool Tokyo neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa. No brainer… we set out to make contact and organise a possible ‘sit-down’ with the man himself to learn more about him and his work.
Sounds easy right? Our Japanese is non-existent and with the very little we knew of Takahashi and his work we pushed on through social media and eventually made first contact. With some very welcome assistance from Yukinori Motoya at Gallery Hana Shimokitazawa we managed to set a date and time to rendezvous in Tokyo at the Gallery Hana.In just over 48 hours and beyond a bumpy flight, a deceptively long airport transfer and a chance encounter with a pair of extremely ambitious and persistent Jehovah’s Witnesses we finally stumbled into Gallery Hana to meet Yukio, his wife Maggie and Yukinori. Lovely people and awesome work by a superbly talented artist. Now it’s time to watch the video…. off you go.
