Barbara Takenaga arranges the simple components of her dense, abstract paintings into stunningly detailed compositions that undulate, radiate, and recede in seemingly infinite space. Her dazzling repetition of forms suggests the inherent yet sometimes incomprehensible logic of both the cosmic and the cellular, while spontaneous twists and puckers preserve the elements of wonder and surprise. Crisp, saturated color defines each discrete element in the tightly woven, tessellated work.

Barbara Takenaga lives and works in New York City. She was the Mary A. and William Wirt Warren Professor of Art at Williams College, a position she held from 1985 to 2018. Her work has been widely exhibited at institutions including MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO; National Academy Museum, New York; Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA; and International Print Center, New York. 

Barbara Takenaga was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in the field of Fine Arts in 2020. Other recent awards include the Wauson Fellowship from the FOR-SITE Foundation and the Eric Isenburger Annual Art Award from the National Academy Museum. In 2020, she was commissioned by New York MTA Arts & Design to create a permanent installation of mosaic and laminated glass for the Metro-North Railroad White Plains Station. She also completed a 30-foot wall mosaic for the sunken garden at NYU Langone as part of their permanent art collection. In the fall of 2017, Williams College Museum of Art organized a twenty-year survey of Takenaga’s work, curated by Debra Bricker Balken, accompanied by a book published by Prestel. 

Takenaga is represented in many permanent collections, including: The Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC; The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; The DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA; Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC; Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI; Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearny, NE; National Academy Museum, New York, NY; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, NY; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; The San Jose Art Museum, CA; Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA; Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA; and Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT. She was born in North Platte, Nebraska.

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