TO EMBRACE AMBIGUITY: Takuya Otsuki

COHJU is pleased to present TO EMBRACE AMBIGUITY, a solo exhibition by Takuya Otsuki, from April 12 to May 3, 2025.

Born in Nara in 1989 and currently based in Osaka, Takuya Otsuki is a painter whose practice centers on observing and reimagining the everyday. He completed his MFA in Nihonga (Japanese painting) at the Kyoto City University of Arts in 2020. Through sketching familiar scenes and studying classical works, he reconstructs forms using soft color palettes and traditional mineral pigments, creating poetic and dreamlike pictorial spaces.

Takuya’s works result from a meditative, repetitive process—tracing, transferring, and retracing forms collected over time. This method is more than a technical exercise; it is a deep inquiry into the ambiguity of form and the fluid nature of perception. His approach gently questions how uncertain and subjective the act of “seeing” can be.

In TO EMBRACE AMBIGUITY, Otsuki presents over a dozen new works exploring those subtle, fleeting moments when the everyday suddenly feels unfamiliar. Starting from life studies, his paintings move beyond visual replication to examine what it means to see and depict. The exhibition invites viewers to consider values and meanings outside binary oppositions—right and wrong, good and evil—and even reflect on whether such essential truths exist at all.

Painted on traditional hemp paper, Takuya’s bold compositions strongly reflect the exhibition’s theme of uncertainty. The delicate textures and depth created by layered mineral pigments give each piece a quiet but compelling material presence. We invite you to experience this contemplative body of work—an intimate reflection on ambiguity, perception, and the nature of seeing.

ARTIST STATEMENT 

One day, while out sketching in a park.

 I noticed something lying on the stone steps near a pond—a thin, brown object. From a distance, I couldn’t quite tell what it was. I quietly took out my tools and began to draw, keeping a subtle distance, as if trying not to let my mind fully grasp its identity. I wanted to preserve the ambiguity, to hold onto that moment of not knowing.When I finally approached it after finishing the sketch, I saw that it was a damp burlap sack, stuck tightly to the stone surface.

In daily life, there are moments when something we think we know—something that should be obvious—suddenly appears strange, unfamiliar. I find quiet joy in those moments. There’s an indescribable allure in things we can’t immediately name. Wanting to preserve that not-knowing, resisting the urge to define or clarify, may seem a little absurd—but perhaps it’s precisely in those moments that something essential can emerge.Through my work, I try to stay close to that uncertainty—not to explain it away, but to let it remain, gently unresolved.

INFORMATION