Living in pain and pleasure,
expressing beauty and madness

Ai Takaoka, Calligrapher. Born in 1973 in Miyazu City, Kyoto Prefecture. Inspired by her mother who was a calligraphy teacher, she started practicing calligraphy at the age of 6. At the age of 18, she began studying under Mr. Shosen Yoshikawa (honorary member of Nitten, professor emeritus at Kyoto Tachibana University). After graduating from university, she worked an office job, but the gap between her feelings towards calligraphy and her actual lifestyle grew, and she suffered from depression. After being an office worker for 9 years, she made up her mind and decided to choose the path of calligraphy. A few years later, she graduated from her teacher’s instruction and started her own path as a calligrapher despite the hardships in her life.

As a result of her activities, in 2008, she was awarded in the cultural person category at the “LUX Shine Awards” given to brilliant female artists. She has appeared in media such as MBS “Seyanen” and Yui Yokoyama (AKB48)’s Kyoto Irodori Diary. In 2012, she held a calligraphy performance and solo exhibition by invitation in Paris, France.

In 2017, she expanded her activities both domestically and internationally through her calligraphy performance at the New York Queens Museum among other acts.Since 2016, she has performed her calligraphy every year at the New Year Calligraphy Dedication at the World Cultural Heritage Site “Kamigamo Shrine.” The calligraphy performance dedication will continue for 12 years, or one cycle of the zodiac.

She is currently focusing on producing artwork. With an emphasis on “expressing one’s inner self and being of use to others,” she continues to learn calligraphy techniques and forms that are faithful to the basics while expressing them dynamically with her own unique interpretation in her works. Led by her belief that “suffering is fun,” an axiom of a life of pain and pleasure, and with her expressions of beauty and madness, she aspires to extend her reach across the world as a figure who encourages and soothes the hearts of people who are suffering in the gaps between one’s true self and reality.