110 WORLD-RENOWNED ARTISTS TO PRESENT WORK AT MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 4, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

Dynamic Screenprints, Sensitive Tempera Paintings to be Displayed

(MURFREESBORO) – Masaaki and Chikako Tanaka, two distinguished Japanese artists, will display their work from Monday, Oct. 16 through Friday, Nov. 3 in the Todd Gallery at MTSU.
Receptions for the Tanakas are slated for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 16 and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, in the gallery. The receptions are free and open to the public.
In addition, the Tanakas will participate in interactive seminars and workshops with MTSU students and faculty during their stay in America.
Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, director of the Japan-U.S. Program at MTSU, introduced Masaaki Tanaka to Thurston Moore of Nashville several years ago.
“Thurston became Tanaka’s U.S. agent almost instantaneously, as he was impressed by Tanaka arts,” Kawahito recalls.
“(Masaaki Tanaka) is a master in the use of the paper stencil technique of screenprinting, the process by which colors and shapes are layered onto paper and coalesce, after many applications, into the finished image,” Dr. Lon Nuell, professor of art, says. “Tanaka’s imagery ranges from the great tradition of the Japanese celebratory festival to landscapes,” Nuell observes. “His festival images are bold and full of energy—a result of his technical mastery of the paper stencil process, his strong understanding of the power of composition and use of color.”
By contrast, Chikako Tanaka’s tempera paintings display a more delicate technique, Nuell says.
“Her work is fanciful, ethereal in some instances, suggesting the dream-like imagery of the surrealists,” Nuell says. “Other images reflect the people and objects which she knows from everyday life in a way that reflects the quietness found more in the past than the present, but that is an essential part of life.”
The exhibition is made possible by The Tennessee Players, Inc., which represents the Tanakas in the U.S., the Japan Foundation of New York, the MTSU Foundation, the Japan-U.S. Program of MTSU, the MTSU College of Liberal Arts and the MTSU Department of Art.
The Todd Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Admission is free. Guest parking permits are available at the MTSU Parking Services building just off East Main Street in Murfreesboro.
For more information, call Nuell at 615-898-5653 or 615-898-2505.


About the Artists

Masaaki Tanaka was born in Tokyo in 1947. He graduated from Musashino Art University in 1971, majoring in oil painting. He educated himself in silkscreen after learning wood-block printmaking and stone lithography while making repeated visits to Europe and the United States. His solo exhibition at the Matsuri Festival in Tokyo in 1974 included 38 silkscreen artworks.
For ten years, Tanaka presented a series of his work on the cover page of the “Shukan Shincho,” one of the most famous weekly magazines in Japan. In the U.S., Tanaka exhibited his prints in such venues as New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas/Fort Worth, Nashville, Hawaii and Memphis. Tanaka’s work can be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Albrecht Fine Art Museum, the Japan Foundation of New York and others.
When then-President Reagan visited Japan in 1983, the Japanese government presented him with a Masaaki Tanaka print. His artwork covers the entire long wall of the Asakusa Station of the recently opened Tsukuba Express railway in Tokyo. Tanaka’s Web sites are http://tanaka-fineart.com and http://www.masaakitanaka.co.jp.

Chikako Tanaka graduated from Musashino Art University, majoring in oil painting. She married Masaaki immediately upon graduating, working for the next 20 years as mother and homemaker. In 1994, she presented her art at the Ichiyo Exhibition. The Tanakas offered joint exhibitions at Ando Gallery in 2000 and in Nashville in 2002 and 2004. In 2003 and 2004, Chikako hosted a solo display at North Carolina Gallery. Her Web site is http://www.chikakotanaka.jp.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For color jpegs of the Tanakas’ art, please contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.