Rena Bransten Gallery is pleased to present Lyrics of Sea Horizon, an exhibition of new work from Japanese painter Nobuyuki Takahashi, presented in conjunction with Henry Wessel: On the Shore which is on view in our south gallery. This is Takahashi’s fourth exhibition with the gallery.    

This collection of new paintings continues Takahashi’s contemplative exploration of place. Always the keen observer, his reductive works show an intuitive connection to his surroundings, and, like Wessel, an interest in the overlap of the natural and built environment. The work embraces the subtle beauty of sunlight reflecting on water, the silhouette of a tree just visible on the edge of the canvas, the city skyline at dusk. Through a minimal approach Takahashi suggests, rather than overtly articulates, these elements. In doing so he achieves a gentle equilibrium between representing the world as it is, and how he perceives it.    

In the paintings included in this exhibition, Takahashi plays with expansiveness and depth using the sea horizon as a unifying, recurring element. Utilizing intentional placement of the horizon line both as a conceptual anchor and as a compositional framework, he creates balance both within each painting, and within the group of works together.    

Nobuyuki Takahashi was born in 1968 in Kanagawa, Japan. He graduated from Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in 1991. He has shown extensively throughout Japan over the past twenty plus years, in both group and solo exhibitions. His work is in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura and Hayama, among others. He currently lives and works in Zushi, in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.