‘Rare opportunity’ to see 60 of Takao Tanabe’s prints in Surrey this spring

The work of master printmaker Takao Tanabe is celebrated in a spring exhibit at Surrey Art Gallery (SAG) starting April 13. Admission is free to see the “major survey exhibition,” closing June 2.

The Takao Tanabe: Printmaker showcase offers visitors “a rare opportunity to enjoy the work of one of Canada’s greatest living artists,” according to Rhys Edwards, assistant curator of the gallery, at Bear Creek Park.

Organized by Kelowna Art Gallery with guest curator Ian M. Thom, the exhibit features more than 60 prints made by Tanabe from the collections of SAG, Vancouver Art Gallery and Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Tanabe is recognized for landscapes “that bridge the gap between abstraction and realism,” Edwards notes.

At SAG the entirety of Tanabe’s career is showcased, from his earliest linocut Christmas cards dating from 1948 all the way up to depictions of the West Coast landscape completed as recently as 2023. Also highlighted are screen-printed hard-edge colour abstractions from the 1960s, monotypes (single editions) of natural forms from the 1950s, and even some of the physical woodblocks used to produce Tanabe’s more recent prints.

Featured works include “Prairie Storm” (1979), a landscape that incorporates ink hand-brushing techniques, and “Nootka Afternoon (1993), a woodcut print that utilizes form and colour to depict a stillness between ocean and land.

“Throughout Tanabe’s career we see an energetic commitment to pursuing new forms, techniques, and ideas,” Edwards noted.

Born in 1926, Tanabe was the son of a commercial fisherman and summered in fishing camps on the Skeena River during his early years. He studied at Winnipeg School of Art and Brooklyn Museum Art School before travelling to Europe and then building his career as a painter in Vancouver. He moved to Parksville on Vancouver Island in 1980. He’s a winner of the Governor General’s Award winner (2003) and Order of Canada (1999), and his work is included in many prestigious public and private collections, including more than 120 corporate collections.

At SAG this spring, related events include a “Tour and Talk” with Thom and Sherri Kajiwara on Wednesday, April 24 from 7 to 8:30 p.m., and Peter Braune’s Talk and Printmaking Workshop on Saturday, May 11, 2 to 3:30 p.m. Details are posted on surrey.ca/artgallery, or call 604-501-5566.

Also new at SAG this month is “ARTS 2024,” the annual juried showcase of the best in local artmaking, held in conjunction with the Arts Council of Surrey. The exhibit runs from April 27 to July 14.