MAKI Gallery is pleased to present Uncertain Romance, Japanese artist Takuro Tamura’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, at Tennoz, Tokyo. The show features a new body of work inspired by board games, specifically the Game of Life; Tamura makes dramatic alterations to its well-known motifs, transforming them into arresting, enigmatic metaphors for the complexities of human experience.
The artist takes the Game of Life’s iconic game pieces and expands their size and quantity to an absurd scale. The Nomadic Pegs are massive versions of the plastic pegs used in-game to represent individual people. The Flagment series comprises almost 200 stylized flag sculptures, each painted in a unique combination of colors. In Whence? How? Whereto?, the board game’s colorful winding tracks are jumbled into convoluted masses with no beginning or end in sight, with a roulette wheel that continues to spin for eternity. While the original Game of Life lays out predetermined paths with specific goals and achievements for the player, Tamura’s interpretation embodies how the real world, particularly our information-inundated society, is open to an infinite number of trajectories that can change at any moment.
The artist detaches familiar objects from their intended functions, even rendering them completely useless at times, as he challenges the viewer to shed their preconceived notions of the universe. Though his work boldly criticizes contemporary society—questioning its structures, norms, and assumptions—it also earnestly encourages us to find wonder and fascination in the unpredictability of our existence.
The artist takes the Game of Life’s iconic game pieces and expands their size and quantity to an absurd scale. The Nomadic Pegs are massive versions of the plastic pegs used in-game to represent individual people. The Flagment series comprises almost 200 stylized flag sculptures, each painted in a unique combination of colors. In Whence? How? Whereto?, the board game’s colorful winding tracks are jumbled into convoluted masses with no beginning or end in sight, with a roulette wheel that continues to spin for eternity. While the original Game of Life lays out predetermined paths with specific goals and achievements for the player, Tamura’s interpretation embodies how the real world, particularly our information-inundated society, is open to an infinite number of trajectories that can change at any moment.
The artist detaches familiar objects from their intended functions, even rendering them completely useless at times, as he challenges the viewer to shed their preconceived notions of the universe. Though his work boldly criticizes contemporary society—questioning its structures, norms, and assumptions—it also earnestly encourages us to find wonder and fascination in the unpredictability of our existence.
Artist