TAKASHI SETO: MOMENTS OF ARRIVAL

TAKASHI SETO: MOMENTS OF ARRIVAL
March 6 – May 3, 2025
Opening Reception for Asia Week New York: Thursday, March 13, 6-8 pm

SEIZAN Gallery New York is pleased to present TAKASHI SETO: MOMENTS OF ARRIVAL, the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York, on view from March 6 through May 3, 2025. Showcasing fifteen recent works on canvas, the exhibition highlights Seto’s mastery of Yuzen fabric dyeing and Shippaku metal leaf techniques — the traditional craft methods he revives and reinterprets. Through this intricate process, Seto explores cultural heritage, symbolism, and the passage of time, transforming ephemeral materials into meditative, multi-layered works.

Artist, craftsman, and researcher, Takashi Seto studies 18th-century Yuzen textbooks and revives forgotten techniques, expanding them into new artistic expressions. His labor-intensive process includes hand-drawn rice paste resist lines, applied with a cone-shaped tube onto translucent silk. This meticulous method produces intricate details and layered dye applications. The silk is then stretched over a silver-leaf-covered canvas, affixed with urushi—a natural lacquer—in the traditional Shippaku technique historically used for Buddha statues and fine dishware. As the silver surface oxidizes it transforms the artwork’s appearance, creating an evolving dialogue between material and time. Seto’s layered compositions result in tranquil yet complex surfaces that invite contemplation and visual engagement.