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PostWar & Contemporary
3487 ARAKI TAKAKO(Nishinomiya City 1921 - 2004)
Stone Bible.
Ceramic with screenprint.
15.5 x 21 x 16 cm.
Provenance: Former Galerie Maya Behn,
Zurich.
The Japanese artist Araki Takako is known
internationally for her ceramic “Bible”
series.
She creates clay copies of the book of
books, the Bible, by inscribing delicate
layers of clay using the silk screen process.
Her books are often shimmering and
fragile, half or completely open, but have
reverted to stone, or appear to have
become eternalised in a heavy plinth. Also,
her bibles are never intact, and each one
is marked by a fate. “They carry traces
of destructive forces, which gently or
violently affect the binding, the paper and
text, precisely recorded and captured with
incomparable care.” (Rudolf Schnyder,
curator of the LandesmuseumZurich)
Takako sees the Bible as a symbol of
western culture and a vanitas symbol of
Christian belief. Araki is an atheist, her
father a Zen priest, and her brother a
practising Christian. Her works are imbued
with doubt, which she sets in opposition to
religion, triggered by the suffering of her
brother who became ill with tuberculosis.
Until the age of 31 Araki Takako followed
the family vocation as a florist, until she
started her art studies. Thereupon she
specialised for one year in sculpture in New
York, and finally also in Japan, where she
garnered high honours in various national
competitions.
CHF 2 000 / 3 000
(€ 1 850 / 2 780)