Check Out Sao Tanaka’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sao Tanaka.

Hi Sao, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Tokyo, surrounded by an environment that encouraged me to pursue a career in the arts. You could say they pushed me towards it, which is common in Japanese parenting, although it might differ from the norm in Japan. My first exposure to art was through ancient Japanese art, as my grandfather worked to preserve scroll paintings from the 8th to 12th centuries. I never got to meet him as he passed away before I was born. However, I often visited art museums to see pre-modern Japanese art. On the other hand, my father was an architect who studied in Philadelphia, USA and worked at Louis Kahn’s office.

Though I excelled in visual arts, I felt the need to be practical. I aimed to work in visual art fields closely related to business, such as graphic design or product design. However, my father urged me to pursue artist of fine art. Our relationship was strong, and I wasn’t mature enough to decide my path independently. So, I followed his suggestion. He passed away when I was 17.

Influenced by my grandfather’s profession, I enrolled in a Japanese painting program for my BFA in Tokyo. Most art universities in Japan offer specialized programs like “The Western Painting Program/Oil Painting” and “The Japanese Painting Program.” Choosing this path, I became intrigued by understanding the genre of Japanese painting rather than solely focusing on the painting itself. I found it intriguing and also puzzled that an art genre could be associated with a nationality. My interest shifted towards exploring social identity, ethnicity, and nationality.

For my MA degree, I shifted my focus from painting to sociology. I researched how the concept of “Japanese painting” was shaped within Japan’s systems of modernism. It wasn’t just art history; it was delving into social systems. After completing my degree, I realized I wanted to bridge the gap between art and society, perhaps as an art curator, conductor, or educator. I worked in galleries, museums, and a small advertising company. By not choosing to be an artist, I wanted to ensure that my career choice was mine, not influenced by my family. However, by doing so, I realized I had feelings that could not turn off the feeling I wanted to return to the creative making and also wanted to experience being in a Western contemporary art scene. This led me to transition from Tokyo to New York, where I enrolled in a glad school and pursued studies in studio art and digital photography. It was just before the pandemic started in 2019. Since then, I have continued to work in New York and occasionally in Tokyo. Still, it just started, but I feel I am on the right track of my own volition now.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Looking back on my past, I realize I had difficulty forming a clear vision for my career. This wasn’t just because I wanted to pursue an artistic path, which naturally comes with uncertainties, but also because I lacked practical real-life role models for building a career despite there were people who influenced me.

My parents were not young when I was born, and both my father and other relatives had retired while I was still a child. My father passed away when I was a teenager. The women in my family, including my mother, mostly adhered to traditional gender roles as housewives.

Moreover, studying Japanese Painting at an art university in Japan was quite conservative. Despite many female students, there were few female professors. However, when I pursued graduate studies in sociology, I was fortunate to have a female professor as my supervisor, who offered invaluable real-life examples.

Upon moving to America, I encountered more full-time professional artists than I had in Japan. This made me believe that pursuing a career as an artist was more achievable.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an artist, mainly working on painting combined with Asian traditional methods and a contemporary interpretation. I often depict landscapes where the beginning scenes are in Genesis. The myth of the creation of the world works for the function of creating identity in society and the land—answering questions about who we are and why we live here. I portray scenes of Genesis as before the existence of life. Often, different stories of genesis begin with sentences describing the scene only involving a few inorganic materials, such as light, water, rock, and air. I used Suminagashi which is a traditional Japanese marbling technique that dates back to the 12th century. The term “suminagashi” translates to “floating ink” in English. In this technique, ink is floated on the surface of the water, and the ink on the water creates intricate patterns. Once the desired pattern is achieved, a piece of paper or fabric is carefully laid onto the water to absorb the ink, resulting in a unique marbled print. You can see the painting uses the technique for ” The Depth Of Water In The Peach Blossom Lake Is A Thousand Feet,” which is installed in a restaurant called Farm to Me in Tokiwa, Tokyo, Japan.

The largest work I created, a pair of “The Night Before,” is 9.2 x 11.5ft and was permanently installed in Mitsui Garden Hotel Roppongi Tokyo Premier BALCON TOKYO, in Japan. It is rare to see this technic on the scale.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The common trait among the people I admire is their ability to chart their course in life. I believe this independence is the most crucial aspect of navigating life thus far. There have been times when I’ve been swayed by my family’s or society’s expectations or by fears about the future, leading me astray from my true desires, sometimes without even realizing it. During those moments, I found myself feeling unsatisfied. However, when I trust that my actions are entirely my own choice, regardless of the outcome, I find contentment and happiness.

I’d like to share a few sentences from “Advice for Young Readers” in “Territory of Conscience” by Susan Sontag, which has been a guiding light.

“Watch for censorship. However, don’t forget it –the censorship that lurks in the depth of society and one’s personal life is “self”-censorship.”

Don’t think about yourself, what you want, what you need, or what you are disappointed in as much as possible. Don’t think about you at all or at least for half of your living time.

Don’t accept relationships which protect you or are despised by others. -If you are a woman, that can happen throughout your whole life. Cope with humiliation. Scold means men severely.

Paying attention is vital. It connects you to others. It makes you passionate. Always be passionate! Keep your territory of conscience….”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.saotanaka.com/
• Instagram: @sao_tanaka_sao

Image Credits
Chiaki Arai
Photo©︎SS/Hikosaka Takenori: The Architecture is designed by Chiaki Arai Urban & Architecture Design (for the 3rd image)