ROOM 18　KEI TAKEMURA

When you enter this room, the first thing you will notice is the playing cards covering the wall. Look closely, and you will see that the artist has added some drawings in pen on the wallpaper. This artwork was created by Kei Takemura, who is known for combining paintings, drawings, and embroidery in her work.

Takemura was born in Tokyo in 1975. She graduated from the Oil Painting Course, Department of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1998, and completed her master’s degree in oil painting in 2002.She then graduated from Berlin University of the Arts in 2004 before spending three years in the same city as a trainee with the Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. She has since returned to Japan and is currently based in Gunma. Her recent works use fluorescent silk to visualize the overlap of past and present in time and memory.

Takemura’s major exhibitions include the Biennale of Sydney (2006), What is the most exciting moment? (POLA museum of art, 2018), Past and Now (Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, 2019), and the Yokohama Triennale 2020 (Yokohama Museum of Art).

After graduating from university, Takemura lived in Germany for fifteen years. Playing cards became an important communication tool for her and a key motif in her art. She has experimented with connecting different cultures and eras by taking cards from various countries and of various vintages, and embroidering them with images of cards from other places and times. Here, instead of embroidery, she has drawn on the wallpaper.
Countries may use different designs or deck sizes, but playing cards are produced and used worldwide and can connect people across differences of language, culture, and generation.  This room is ready to warmly welcome guests from all over the world.