Shohei Takasaki’s practice revolves around the central theme of contrast and identity. A self-taught artist from Saitama, a suburb outside of Tokyo, Takasaki’s childhood memories of life in his conservative town, as well as his experiences as a Japanese living abroad, have served as the foundation and motivation for his relentless questioning of identity. Inspired by fashion and music from a young age, Takasaki encountered repeated instances of being defined as “different” or “other” due to his rebellious forms of self-expression and physical appearance and, later on in life when he moved abroad, due to language and culture. This is why Takasaki plays with dichotomies: to force us to rethink what it means for something to be “opposite” or “different”, to explore the “in-betweenness” of things, and to make us question whether these dichotomies are true or false. With this background as his basis, and with his own intuitive, emotional compass at the helm, Takasaki has grown to seek connections to art historical figures and movements in his journey to further understand his identity within our Westernized global context.