Chikuunsai IV Tanabe - Workshops and Lectures in Oslo

Chikuunsai IV Tanabe will offer lectures and workshops guiding those who are curious in bamboo handicraft during his stay in Oslo 2-3 March 2018:

 

Friday 2 March	10:30-11:45	Open lecture
	13:30-16:00	Workshop (registration closed)
Saturday 3 March	10:30-11:45	Open lecture
	13:30-16:00	Workshop (registration closed)

Venue:
Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo (KHiO)
Fossveien 24
0551 Oslo
Map

Fourth-generation Chikuunsai Tanabe was born as Shouchiku Tanabe in 1973 in Sakai city, Osaka prefecture as the second son of third-generation Chiku’unsai.

Being exposed to bamboo since his childhood, he aspired to work with nature and bamboo. After graduating from the Art course at Osaka City Kogei High School he went on to study sculpture at the Fine Arts Department of Tokyo University of the Arts, where he created bamboo sculptures using black bamboo. Upon graduation, he spent two years learning about weaving, assembling and designing bamboo pieces at the Oita Prefectural Bamboo Craft Training Center in Beppu city. After that he returned to his family home in Sakai, Osaka and learned bamboo craft from his father, third-generation Chiku’unsai.

There are two categories of works that represent fourth-generation Chikuunsai Tanabe. The first is traditional works that inherit the techniques and spirit of his forefathers. He presents such works mainly at the Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition, while holding private and group exhibitions in Osaka, Tokyo and other cities.

The second category is three-dimensional bamboo installations with powerful modern elements. His installations are created with the concept “Art that Remains in Our Memories” and are displayed at different venues and in various forms. In 2015 he created the “Beyond connection” installation at the Domaine de la Celle Saint-Cloud located some 10 kilometres north of the Versailles. In 2016 he became the first Japanese to exhibit an installation, titled “Godai”, at the Guimet Musuem. The installation represented a world where the five elements that make up our world intertwine.

In 2001 he was invited to the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, and his works were purchased by the museum. After that his works found their way into the collections of museums around the world, including the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Seattle Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the British Museum and the Guimet Museum, where they are exhibited.

In 2012 he was selected and commended for his work by the National Policy Unit of the Cabinet Secretariat as part of the Global Messengers of “Japan” Project. Following that he was sent by the Cabinet Office to conduct demonstrations at the Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris and the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York.

In 2017 Shouchiku Tanabe succeeded to the title of Chikuunsai IV Tanabe.