Artists
Noboru Takayama
Selected Works
About Noboru Takayama（1944–2023）
Born in Tokyo in 1944, Noboru Takayama studied oil painting at Tokyo University of the Arts, and from the late 1960s developed a distinctive body of work centered on railway sleepers (crossties) as his primary material, exploring questions of place, the body, and memory.
Around 1968, he began experimenting with sleepers on the grounds of the apartment where he was living at the time, and from then on sleepers became the central material in his practice.
In 1970, together with Kōji Enokura, Hiroshi Fujii, and Shin Habu, he organized “SPACE TOTSUKA ’70,” clearing the vacant lot and developing their work through an active, bodily engagement with their surroundings.
Working with sleepers treated with preservative chemicals, and confronting the social and historical meanings they carry, Takayama built his practice around expression through this material. The spatial compositions of his work also suggest a connection to his training in painting. Through a range of additional methods, including drawing and performance, he pursued a mode of expression marked by tension and intensity throughout his life.
He took part in numerous exhibitions in Japan and abroad, including the 8th Paris Biennale of Young Artists in 1973, the Biennale of Sydney in 1976, and the Gwangju Biennale in 1997. In 2010, the exhibition “Noboru Takayama: 300 Railroad Ties / Breathing Space” was held at the Miyagi Museum of Art, and in 2011, a retrospective marking his retirement, “Takayama Noboru/Makuragi,” was held at the University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts.
He also devoted many years to teaching, at institutions including Miyagi University of Education and Tokyo University of the Arts, training younger generations of artists.
Around 1968, he began experimenting with sleepers on the grounds of the apartment where he was living at the time, and from then on sleepers became the central material in his practice.
In 1970, together with Kōji Enokura, Hiroshi Fujii, and Shin Habu, he organized “SPACE TOTSUKA ’70,” clearing the vacant lot and developing their work through an active, bodily engagement with their surroundings.
Working with sleepers treated with preservative chemicals, and confronting the social and historical meanings they carry, Takayama built his practice around expression through this material. The spatial compositions of his work also suggest a connection to his training in painting. Through a range of additional methods, including drawing and performance, he pursued a mode of expression marked by tension and intensity throughout his life.
He took part in numerous exhibitions in Japan and abroad, including the 8th Paris Biennale of Young Artists in 1973, the Biennale of Sydney in 1976, and the Gwangju Biennale in 1997. In 2010, the exhibition “Noboru Takayama: 300 Railroad Ties / Breathing Space” was held at the Miyagi Museum of Art, and in 2011, a retrospective marking his retirement, “Takayama Noboru/Makuragi,” was held at the University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts.
He also devoted many years to teaching, at institutions including Miyagi University of Education and Tokyo University of the Arts, training younger generations of artists.