GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The work of artist Tatsuki Hakoyama, a Grand Rapids Community College adjunct instructor, is the subject of an exhibit in the campus’s Paul Collins Art Gallery.
The exhibit will run through Nov. 18 with free admission, according to a news release Monday.
Hakoyama is a native of Japan who has taught in the college’s visual arts department since January. This semester, he’s working with students in the AT 140 Drawing 1 class.
He says his passion is creating allegorical painting influenced by magical realists like George Tooker, Peter Blume and Rene Magritte.
“These painting depict magical narratives that invoke a sense of uncanniness to seemingly mundane scenery,” Hakoyama wrote in an artist statement for the exhibition. “These compositions analyze, criticize and question the human struggle – both physical and metaphysical – and provide social commentary on relevant topics relating to identity, education and impact of globalization and technology in our social structure.”
Hakoyama has a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.
His worked has appeared in exhibitions throughout the state and has received recognition, including a first-place Juror’s Award at 2021 Art Walk Central in Mount Pleasant, the Martin Maddox Prize for Imaginative Realism at 2020 West Michigan Areas Show in Kalamazoo and a 2D Juror’s Award at 2019 Regional Arts Exhibition in Grand Rapids.
