Takeru Amano (b. 1977)
Leda and the Swan(Painted in 2020)
Acrylic on canvas
72.7 × 116.7cm. 28 5/8 × 46 in.
Signed in English and dated on the right of the canvas edge
Sparkles of the Intersection of Classic and Pop
Takeru Amano's “Contemporary Myth”
Takeru Amano was born in 1977 into an artistic family, whose father is the famous Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano. Growing up under the influence of his father, Takeru Amano has imbibed painting as one significant part of his life. From 1997 to 2000, he studied at a printmaking studio in New York, delving into the indigenous pop culture. Takeru Amano went back to Tokyo after the four-year study and combined the inspirations of New York's Neo-Pop with the traditional painting elements and ideas in Japanese painting. He usually uses clear and bright lines and flattened colour patterns to reconstruct the figures of goddess, separating them from the realist classical works of European Renaissance and bringing into the world of contemporary cartoon. His works have been exhibited in Hong Kong, Paris, Taipei, Tokyo, Shanghai, and other places. Takeru Amano has received wide appreciation among the young generation of art lovers, and already became one of the most popular artists in Japan.
A Tribute to Classic with “Dot Eye” Girl
Painted in 2020, Leda and Swan is the first work in this series. Takeru Amano attains the inspiration from the Greek mythology——fascinated by the beauty of Spartan queen Leda, Zeus became a white swan and descended to the earth to woo her as he heard of Leda loving white swan and splashing in the water. The most classical representation of the myth is Leda and Swan painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century, which da Vinci carried with himself until he passed away in Paris.
Colouring the background with a golden-brown metal-toned palette, Takeru Amano delivers a quality of sacred magnificence to suggest the holiness of the myth through the shared colour language in both eastern and western cultures. In the centre of the painting, the artist takes the flat colouring technique to briefly outline the character Leda's young and beautiful face, along with the swan's solid, bright beak and soft fluffy feathers. Different from the mature beauty in da Vinci's, Takeru Amano's Leda seems an innocent adolescent girl who opens wide her characteristic “dot eyes” faced with the suddenly appearing swan, showing a complicated expression of both surprise and expectation of the further interaction with the swan. The originally golden-hair western goddess, however, turns to an eastern girl with black hair, which further breaks away from the traditional myth structure and alternatively portrays the young girls' common paradoxical psychologies——hesitation and yearning——towards love. Adopting a contemporary perspective, Takeru Amano displays his appreciation and longing for the female figures representing love and beauty in the history of art and establishes a “contemporary myth” which conforms to the current pop culture.
