Art Exhibit Reception & Artist Talk: "Converted - Sations" by Takako Konishi

Meet the artist, learn more about Takako Konishi's work, and enjoy light refreshments.

“Imagery makes the best paint; it comes dripping with color and connotations.”—Takako Konishi

Daily life is so strange and image rich as we are completely immersed in our all-encompassing media culture. Modern mass media through its various forms and devices has grown into a behemoth, producing streams of imagery and content all competing for our attention, with messages that often have conflicting meanings. I propose that content creation is a new religion, and our hosting platforms are the new temples. However, my art is not a negative critique of our mediated culture, I seek to explore and appropriate this data rich environment as raw material to create art that has tension yet familiarity. Using collage, I explore the subject, aesthetic, pace, and, ultimately, sense of place we are creating through the many artifices of mass media. My art is a diary, a daily confessional of a present-day content consumer.

Takako Konishi's art exhibit will be on view in the Main Library Gallery February 6-March 9.

About the artist
African American artist Takako Konishi (pseudonym; birth name Keith Brown, b. 1969) constructs collages that pay homage yet break with the traditional collage aesthetic. He describes his process as painting with images. Utilizing digital technology along with traditional methods he cuts, pastes, blends, and mixes imagery, creating multi-layered mashup compositions that burst with sexuality, anger, beauty, and obsession.

Born and raised in Chicago, Takako has always appreciated existing between different cultures, classes, environments, and neighborhoods. He attributes growing up in a large multicultural city as a big factor in what made him appreciate the beauty in the contrast of differences.

Formally trained as an architect (currently practicing in Chicago) Takako was heavily influenced by his time in graduate school at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (2004-2007.) The school had a dynamic mixture of disciplines and students interacting within the same building. He fondly recalls attending lectures and critiques on fashion, art, industrial design, and Architecture. It was during this time Takako became interested in collage.