Taku Inoue, clay artist and video director from Tokyo, Japan. Photo © T. Inoue

1.Tell us what you do and your beginnings.

I sympathize with the “warm resolution” common to cartoons and children’s graffiti 80 years ago, and make figures with a texture that mass-produced products do not have. I started making works from paper clay about five years ago, but my creative activities have continued since I was a child. The reason I started making figures myself was because I didn’t sell the character goods of my favorite cartoon works.

By collecting and three-dimensionalizing my favorite scenes, I was able to obtain the only toy in the world. Recently, I have made figures of pictures drawn by my child. This is also a toy that only we have. I would like to add that my main business is a videographer.

The most outlandish moments of Tom and Jerry’s cartoon © Taku Inoue

2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?

It is the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum near the workplace where I worked in the past. Originally it was an Art Deco style private house, so the hall is small and there are no collections, but the building and interior decoration are beautiful, and the space is filled with an artistic atmosphere. The special exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci in 1995 was very impressive.

3.How important are social networks in your business? And which platform do you prefer and why.

I don’t use social media in my business. Even as a videographer in my main business, I do not use it for announcements and promotions. I mainly use social media as a place to gather information and communicate with people who share a common hobby.

Now that my work is getting a lot of attention, I know that business is born outside of my involvement. The ideas and points of view that I created caused a big move, and when they noticed it, they replaced it with a product and turned it into a business. I am objectively observing such events.

Now I’m observing in real time the moment personal art is consumed by a company that has no respect for its work. It’s amazing! My favorite SNS is Twitter. Since it has a translation function, you can understand the comments received from various countries. You look amazing.

4.What are your future projects? 

I’m now modeling an original character with my kid. I have no plans to announce it on social media, but I would like to have a system in place to sell it someday.

5.To create greater engagement among museums, artists and professionals, do you have any advice for cultural projects such as #MuseumWeek?

Many artists don’t talk much about their work. There are many artists like me who publish their work on social media, but I think projects like #MuseumWeek that shed light on small buds will be meaningful in the future art scene and will be exciting…

Interview by Fabio Pariante, journalist – Twitter

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Taku Inoue on social networks: Instagram – Twitter

Taku Inoue (Tokyo, Japan) started in 1998 working as a director of program IDs, music videos, and TV commercials. After working for MTV JAPAN and P.I.C.S., Taku started freelancing in 2006 and he established Inoue Taku Office in 2018. He has involved in a range of video expression genres, both analog and digital, including live filming, CG, animation, and puppets. The artist and director focuses on the interesting aspects of scenario-based video production and is particularly good with works that have a story, regardless of the genre, such as drama-based music videos and game cinematics.

Taku has been featured in multiple screenings and has received many gold, silver, and platinum awards in Japan and overseas, including winning at PROMAX & BDA USA, animation festivals in Annecy and Ottawa, the Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival, ADC, ACC, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and onedotzero. Taku Inoue lives and works in Tokyo.