Norman Takeuchi


Region: Ottawa ON
Generation: Sansei
Born 1937, Vancouver, BC

Bio

Norman Takeuchi is a painter. Shortly after graduating from the Vancouver School of Art, he moved to London, England, for one year to concentrate on painting. While there, a chance encounter with a gallery owner resulted in his first solo exhibition. Back in Canada, he found employment in Ottawa as a graphic and exhibition designer, all the while continuing to paint and exhibit. In 1996, he took early retirement in order to devote himself full time to painting. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Canadian War Museum, Canada Council Art Bank, the City of Ottawa Fine Art Collection, Carleton University Art Gallery, Confederation Gallery in Charlottetown, P.E.I., the Ottawa Art Gallery, Mitel Corporation, and in private collections in Canada and abroad.  Norman Takeuchi still resides in Ottawa.

Artist Statement

My early life experiences have influenced my work. As a member of the Japanese-Canadian community, and having experienced the shame and upheaval of the internment years, my early works were pure abstraction and resolutely “Canadian” with no hint of my ethnic background. Only in the last several years, through my art, have I been able to look more openly at being Japanese and to celebrate my heritage.  By combining fragments of Japanese woodblock prints and traditional motifs with abstract shapes, my work now is an expression of the harmony and dissonance that comes of inheriting two very distinct cultures; it is a search for a comfortable existence between them.


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