Akane Takayama

The Age of Oil: Present

This is the second piece entitled "Present"
 Injection Moulded Plastic
 35cms x 18cms x 18cms

Take the Pebble: The Budha Rampant

Spirituality forever seems to be the arbitor and excuser of humanity's excesses. The Buddha appears as one of the least aggressive of all the male "gods" and so there is a strange idea here in this statement of wanton rampantness. One could imagine the outrage in some quarters if this figure was from Islam or Christianity but with Buddhism there is a more inclusive view of life which always allows for a certain humour.

Take the Pebble: The Budha Masterbating

This work creates the image of masterbation, an act of pure self indulgence wholly self centered, and relates it to the Buddha, a spiritual symbol encouraging all to "let go" of the material world. The juxtaposition of these two ideas poses the question; is spirituality actually an essentially selfish act no matter how it is dressed up?

Take the Pebble: Kiki is the World

There is an old Polynesian idea that the world rests on the back of a giant sea going turtle. In this piece that symbology is utilised to put Kiki not in the world but as the world. This is a female world, this is the world of women without men, here Kiki's nudity is not the subject of the lecherous pawing but a simple statement of the female form. In this piece Kiki is triumphant.

Take the Pebble: Kiki de Montparnasse as the Venus of Page Three

This sculpture is filled with pathos amplified by the disguised presence of Kiki. If you are not from the world of art history then it is likely that you will not know who Kiki was. This is a shame as she could be held to be an important historical figure, but then of course, she was only a woman. This gender bias is the foundation of her historical value for kiki is often styled as "the first truly independent woman".

The Take the Pebble Series: Kiki as Culture

Take the Pebble: Kiki Unattainable

Take the Pebble: The Impotent Female

Why would amonites be used to symbolise the female form? The golden fossils appear placed before the triumphal arch almost as a pair of ear rings on a dressing table. These spiral forms turn ever in on themselves in an endles twisted circle but they were once living, fertile animals that flooded the seas of gaia.

Take the Pebble: The Impotent Male

The disfigured bare and barren tree stands next to the set of arches producing a bleak abandoned landscape on the pebble. The artist's view of male power disenfranchised, stripped of its one defining asset; the ability to reproduce, looks more like the hope for vengance rather than a statement of power politics in the contemporary.

The Cultures of Resistance: Economic Crises, The Indices of Inflation