Born in the Taninaka district of Tokyo, Tanaka Terukazu graduated from the Metal Crafts Department of Tokyo Metropolitan Crafts High School in 1964. The son of a metalsmith, Tanaka trained with his father and at the Tokyo Metropolitan Crafts High School. Tanaka is known for his mastery of fusing gold, silver, and copper alloys in his signature forms and luminous surfaces. In his work, “AKENO (Field of Dawn)” Tanaka joined sheets of blue-black shakudo (copper with 3 percent gold) to either end of a central sheet of copper to form the lid and base of the box. He then hammered the metal patchwork over iron anvils to raise the curved forms. Look closely at the gleaming shakudo surfaces to see minute facets left by his hammer strokes. In 2018, Tanaka was selected as the second artist to be selected for The Freer | Sackler Residency in Japanese Metalwork Design after Living National Treasure artist, Osumi Yukie was selected to be the first recipient of this residency at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.
Selected Exhibitions
2020 Asia Week New York, US
2019 Nitten Exhibition, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Freer Gallery Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC, US | “The Modern Minstrels in Metalmaking,” Lixil Gallery,Tokyo, Japan