Barbara Takenaga

Barbara Takenaga’s abstract paintings depict possibilities that range from imagined landscapes to macro/microscopic views. Natural phenomena are often used as metaphors for the cosmic, catastrophic, or comic. Simultaneous readings can include close-up cross sections of minerals or aerial maps of land, shooting stars or falling missiles, snow/rain storms or big bang explosions. A black silhouette can be almost something — a figure, a river, an island.

Recent exhibitions include a 20-year Survey at the Williams College Museum of Art, DC Moore Gallery, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and installations at Space/42 of the Neuberger Museum, and MASS MoCA. Her work is represented by DC Moore Gallery, New York; Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco; and Robischon Gallery, Denver. She makes prints with Shark’s Ink and Wingate Studio.  More of her work can be seen on her website. Takenaga lives and works in New York City and is the Mary A. & William Wirt Warren Professor of Art, Emerita at Williams College.