Featured Collage Artist Takahiro Kimura

Takahiro Kimura was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1965.

He studied technology of painting and graphic design at Salesian Polytechnic, and then studied skill of drawing, landscape painting and fashion drawing at Setsu Mode Seminar.

Since 1991, Takahiro Kimura has been creating his own unique style of collages that strives to show the complicated nature of the human spirit through peculiar physical distortions.

His collages are made by cutting up photos and rearranging them into a collage to which color is then applied, thereby creating a whole new visage with an unforgettable impact.

[The faces] that Takahiro Kimura draws formidably conspicuously depict karmic suffering and ugliness of human being, which make them feel somewhere – lonely even though they are drawn with dazzlingly brilliant colors. Therefore, his paintings burn unforgettable intense impressions to consciousness of people who have seen them.

He has created a broad spectrum of works including illustrations for advertisements, books, exhibitions of his original works, and even a live painting demonstration in which he illustrated a gigantic face on canvas.

Since 2003, Kimura has evolved his interest in faces, producing a collaged animation series, which breathed new life into the hallucinatory, constantly mutating movements that emerge out of a single drawing.

His first art book [e-motion], published in 2010, has 10 collaged animation series.

He also made a short-film titled [meat], which was screened at Annecy Animation Film Festival(2010,France), MECAL(2011,Spain), Wiesbaden International Weekend of Animation(2010,Germany), and Short Shorts Film Festival(2011,Japan).

His animation series include a virtual company called [KIMSNAKE], in which many characters with strong personality sing and dance. They have been introduced to TV and website (www.kimsnake.jp)

Awards History (Animation Title “MEAT”)
Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2010(France)
Wiesbaden International Weekend of Animation 2010(Germany)
Mecal International Short Film Festival of Barcelona 2011(Spain)
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2011(Japan)

Artist’s Statement
The main motif of my artworks is Human Faces.
Though I am quite interested in various aspects and contradictions which people have inside, I attempt not to think about them in the stage of creation. I’d rather devote my attention to force of line and exquisite balance of form, mass, composition and color so that sense of existence of my works, which are inclusive of said factors, can stand out.

If I hold up the emotion of human being, which is so complicated and elusive, as theme of my work, the work will be unable to catch up with the emotion and the work will be undistinguished. Therefore, in a state of selfless, I command not feeling but solely my aesthetic sense and attempt to create my work.

And then if you feel some complicated emotions of human beings are expressed out of my work [faces], it might be projections of what you have inside. The broken faces might be mirrors to reflect your emotions.