Yuji Takeoka: From a Pedestal into Space

Heading to Saitama after a run at Osaka's National Museum of Art last spring, the first major retrospective in Japan focused on contemporary sculptor Yuji Takeoka's 30-year career features an inspiring selection of simplistic, minimalist pieces displayed in ways that make them appear permanent parts of the museum space. Based in Düsseldorf, where he has lived since the '80s, Takeoka is a pioneer of raising pedestals from mere supportive pieces to works of art, and has also developed the theoretical side of spatial art during his time as a professor at University of the Arts Bremen.