Takekawa’s Cats Dig into Industrial Memory

Amid brightly colored woodcuts and canvases inhabited by tireless felines, Ota Fine Arts Shanghai presents the third solo exhibition of Japanese artist Nobuaki Takekawa. Born in Tokyo in 1977, Takekawa turns cats into ironic and poetic protagonists to narrate the story of Japan’s industrial modernization, bringing back to light the history of the Ashio Copper Mine - once a driving force of the country’s industrial revolution and now a symbol of the environmental and social scars left by mining. At the heart of the exhibition is a series of 48 acrylic woodcuts based on the rules of Hanafuda, traditional Japanese playing cards dating back to the 17th century and decorated with flowers and seasonal motifs. Each deck becomes a narrative grid: in twelve sequential scenes, cat-miners move through every phase of the mining process, from prospecting and extraction to smelting, turning industrial labor into an episodic fable. In their world, cat food serves as the true currency of exchange - sometimes crystallizing into precious ore, sometimes dissolving into nourishing clouds, sometimes transforming into graphic slogans. Beneath the playful tone lies the buried memory of a place where the race for progress left deep scars. Alongside the woodcuts, a series of paintings portrays fatigue and fragility with tender precision: weary cats gaze at the sunset, others dream of abundant meals or dig relentlessly, symbols of individuals swept up by the relentless logic of labor and profit. Completing the exhibition are sculptures and canvases featuring the Nintendo logo - an homage to the company’s origins as a maker of Hanafuda cards before becoming a video game giant - which extend the reflection to the present, highlighting the shift from a material to a digital economy. In this feline universe, poised between humor and social critique, Takekawa invites viewers to reconsider our relationship with natural resources and technology through fresh, curious eyes.