TOKYO.- MAKI Gallery presents Middle Place, the latest solo exhibition in two years by Aichi- based artist Keisuke Tada. Tada has long been deeply engaged with the relationship between real and fabricated constructs and the effects of their entanglement. Through his ongoing exploration of the conflict between ‘being there’ and ‘not’, he also investigates the uncertainty of reality in the digital age from multiple perspectives.

In this upcoming exhibition, Tada will unveil Painting of incomplete remains #274, the largest work to date from his ongoing Paintings of incomplete remains series. A series whose works are based on landscapes of virtual spaces the artist has wandered through, that have then been transformed using the addition of aging processes. Alongside the unveiling of this new work, the exhibition will also feature key pieces from the trace / wood series, in which wooden floors and walls are recreated solely with paint to capture the traces of wear and dirt, as well as from the Heaven’s Door series, where antique-style gates—meticulously reproduced using paint as the only material—are violently destroyed with an axe. Together, these works offer a wide-ranging encounter with Tada’s practice at a moment of significant development.

In the Paintings of incomplete remains series, Tada draws on the compositions of the Barbizon School, represented by 19th-century French painter Jean-François Millet. Just as those artists once traveled with small canvases in hand, Tada parallels their journeys with his own act of traversing virtual landscapes. Until now, this series has primarily taken the form of small-scale works.

The defining features of the Painting of incomplete remains #274 piece are, on the one hand, its unprecedented scale. To render intricate landscapes and advanced aging effects on such a large canvas, Tada has devoted years to researching techniques and materials. On the other hand, within the landscape paintings, vanitas motifs—symbols of life’s transience and death reminiscent of those depicted in Tada’s early still lifes—are integrated for the first time. These new elements infuse the work with an unsettling atmosphere while simultaneously sparking curiosity, drawing viewers in, and leaving space for open interpretation.

On these changes, Tada remarks:

I want my works to arrive somewhere beyond my own control. Having created as many as 280 pieces in this series to date, I feel I have taken it as far as it can go in its current form. Now there is a natural flow that allows me to present the next stage without resistance. This freedom has manifested in my choices of motif and scale. What we are seeing here is the very beginning of that gradual transformation.

Tada continuously confronts the paradox of being a finite existence attempting to give form to eternity, infinity, and fictional entities that cannot exist in this world. Yet he hopes that something might be born in the “middle place” between us and the fictional—a possibility that inspired the exhibition’s title. At the same time, the title signals his own current position: in the midst of deepening, transformation, and a pivotal turning point in his practice.

Having produced a vast body of work while persistently refining his techniques, Keisuke Tada is now stepping into a new stage. This exhibition marks an important milestone in his career, and we warmly invite you to experience it.

Written by Haruna Takeda

Born in 1986 in Nagoya, Japan, Keisuke Tada received both his BFA and MFA in Oil Painting from Aichi University of the Arts in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Fascinated by the sensory experiences offered by video games and other virtual worlds, Tada creates paintings that explore the blurry boundary separating reality and fiction. His trace / dimension series mimics assemblages of wooden boards, metal chains, and ceramic tiles; his Heaven’s Door series resembles antique doors that seem to have been attacked with an axe. Despite their convincing appearances, the works are crafted entirely out of paint. In Paintings of incomplete remains, the artist fabricates time by artificially aging the surface of each canvas, yielding them a likeness to classical European paintings. It could be said that Tada, who investigates the conflict between what exists and what doesn’t through his unconventional techniques, brings new dimension to the medium of painting.

Tada’s recent solo exhibitions include Phantom Emotion, MAKI Gallery (Tokyo, 2023); Rhizomed Material, Gallery COMMON (Tokyo, 2023); Traffic, MITSUKOSHI CONTEMPORARY GALLERY (Tokyo, 2022); Beautiful Dream, MAHO KUBOTA GALLERY (Tokyo, 2020); and CHANGELING, rin art association (Gunma, Japan, 2020). He also actively participates in group exhibitions throughout Asia.