About the Artist
Hiroko Takahashi
Born in Akita Prefecture in 1977. Moved shortly after birth and grew up in Sapporo
1999 Graduated from Sapporo School of The Arts
In 2013, he began to exhibit his work in earnest and is currently based in Sapporo.
The Dawn of My Artistic Journey
I've loved drawing since I was a child. I think I was the kind of child who never got bored, even when I was alone, as long as I had paper and a pencil. At the time, I mainly drew manga and anime characters. I was never in an art club or anything like that, but I still remember my art teacher in junior high school being passionate about croquis.
He then went on to study industrial design at Sapporo School of The Arts, where he majored in industrial design while learning the basics of drawing, modeling, and digital technology. After graduating, he did not work for a design company, and for a while, painting remained just a hobby.
The turning point came in 2012. I happened to stop by Gallery Café Ciao while waiting for a bus, which led me to start participating in group exhibitions. My first exhibition was the "MIXED MEDIA Exhibition" (Gallery Café Ciao, Sapporo) in May 2013. If I hadn't casually opened the door to that shop back then, I might not be who I am today.
Through my work, I gradually learned that "galleries are surprisingly close by, and that a variety of artists exhibit there," and that "there are venues such as open exhibitions and art fairs." I continue to create today, supported by many people, accumulating one thing at a time that makes me think, "I'll try this next."
As of 2025, when I paint, I feel that "I am always given the proposition, 'Draw this next,'" and "A painting is a device that draws out what the viewer has, and the painter is the device that outputs that device, the painting." I would like to continue creating works that nurture the power of each device.
About "En"
I decided to give this webshop a name to distinguish it from my old website. "En" is a word that indicates connections between things and people. I hope that this will be a place where you can connect with my work.
Draw a wolf
When I first began creating art in 2013, I suddenly felt the urge to draw wolves. Since then, I've continued to draw wolves whenever they fit the theme of my work. I've always loved animals and even had a dog, but I've never had any particular attachment to them. Rather, after I started drawing wolves, I began to research questions like, "What kind of animal is a wolf?" and "How have they interacted with humans?"
Wolves are highly social animals that value their packs. For this reason, they sometimes appear in my work as a symbol of humanity. Also, around 2022, I became interested in wolves, which were once objects of worship but are now extinct in Japan. If wolves were to reappear before us, would we still be able to feel awe for them? Can we build a new faith? I explore these questions through my work.
Japan once had a strong religious belief in natural phenomena, plants, and animals. Having grown up surrounded by asphalt in a residential area, this ancient sensibility feels somehow distant to me. Furthermore, the environment in which I grew up cannot be said to have retained strong traces of ancient Japanese beliefs and customs. Still, I believe there is something within us living in the modern world that resonates with these ancient people. These questions interest me.
What kind of beings are humans? What kind of people are Japanese? And what kind of Japanese am I? I am always trying to portray the "human form." However, in many of my works, I express this in the form of a "wolf." Why do I paint wolves? Is it because wolves hold a special place in the human heart? Or is it because the land I live in, Hokkaido, is connected to the history of wolves being exterminated in the past?
I have yet to find a definitive answer to the question, "Why wolves?" Perhaps one day I will find an answer, but for now, I'm not afraid of the unknown. By painting wolves, I may be able to take them anywhere. Or perhaps the wolves are trying to take me somewhere.