Kazuki Takizawa, Ruby Stripe, 2022, Blown glass, 13.5 x 7.5 x 7 in (Detail)
KAZUKI TAKIZAWA
Venetian-style glass blowing techniques are consistently contemporized by Takizawa, who creates elaborate and oversized goblets and vessels that allude to figurative qualities. Beyond color and form, each of Takizawa’s pieces give shape to untold stories and one of his focal concerns is the destigmatization of mental illness.
BIO
As an artist who lives with bipolar disorder, Kazuki Takizawa uses glass as a means to explore his inner reality and destigmatize mental illness. With an aim to give the invisible shape, Takizawa crafts elaborate vessels and installations, each with a unique story. Universally rooted in a dialogue around mental health, his series examines broad themes such as attaining minimalism among chaos as well as his personal narratives around the topic of living with Bipolar Disorder and suicide prevention. Takizawa has traveled to numerous communities in and outside the US to share his work and act as an advocate for mental illness. His practice offers an uncommon and inclusive space to increase awareness and start a conversation. Takizawa is a Japanese glass artist based in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a BFA in glass art in 2010 and currently owns and runs KT Glassworks, LLC in the historic West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles.
See the Kazuki Takizawa interview on Talking Out Your Glass HERE
