Ryan Takaba, Artist

Above image example of "figurative bust". 

https://vimeo.com/29158752

STATEMENT

Growing up in Hawai`i, I spent much of my youth observing my grandparent’s attentiveness to their landscape, a residence that was built on ancient lava rock.  With my grandmother in her 90’s and my grandfather since passed, she now has a much smaller space to tend to.  The clippings of flowers she receives from her garden adorn a bedroom altar where every morning my grandmother visits my grandfather through daily prayer.  A prayer involving lighting a candle, burning incense, and arranging fresh flowers.              

I am interested in daily ritual, specifically in relation to the flower and the vase, the candle and the wax, and the incense and ash.  What defines a ritual and not a habit is a question I have been asking with this work.  My grandmother's dedication and belief makes me believe that her process transcends habit into ritual, and ritual into truth.

My studio practice stems from my research in landscape, architecture, and design looking to my grandmother as a source to investigate how objects are used, cared for, and honored.  I am interested in the arrangement of these objects, and through their use, meaning and the composition can change over time.  My practice is performative and durational, attending to the pieces daily through the length of a show.  In some works, I cut, assemble, and connect flowers to complete a composition, and sort stem sizes to regulate its flow of water.  I light candles to use heat to break wax patterns, and I burn incense to mark the wall and cascade ash.  This act engages themes of longing, waiting,and return.  

ryantakaba.com