IBASHO is proud to present ‘As the twig is bent, so grows the tree’ a retrospective solo-exhibition of the Japanese artist Norio Takasugi.
Taking inspiration from Alexander Pope’s proverb on formative influence, Norio Takasugi explores how conditions and influences shape artistic expression. His creative process is intuitive and investigative—an attempt to trace the origins of impulse and understand the “bending of the twig” that informs his artistic path.
Born in 1973 in Shizuoka, Japan, within a family that owned a photo studio, and since 2004 based in Berlin, Takasugi’s practice bridges craftsmanship, design, and fine art. From early studies in craft design and sculpture at Musashino Art University, he has continually examined the tension between mass production and individuality. His early animal sculptures —birds, frogs, and turtles—were made with IKEA catalogue paper as surface material, transforming serial forms into unique expressions.
In 2014 Takasugi turned to photography and began experimenting with analogue techniques. In his Ivy series (2016–2017), Norio Takasugi transformed photographed ivy leaves into perforated reliefs. Suspended 6.5 to 8 cm from the surface, the cut-outs vary in exposure, creating nuanced, floral-like three-dimensional image object.
A turning point came with his silver leaf works, where classical photography meets Japanese craft. Using screen printing and sulphur reactions on silver leaf, Takasugi creates luminous botanical and landscape images that blur the line between image and object, reproduction and uniqueness. Sepia tones and control strips embedded in the work serve as both aesthetic and technical markers, underscoring the handcrafted nature of each piece.
Series such as Heritage Tree (2018), Johannistal/Adlershof (2018), and Garden (2019) draw attention to the overlooked details of flora, rendered in a delicate tension between documentation and abstraction. In Berlin Mountains (2020), sand piles become towering landscapes, while the Pinecone Cap Mushroom series (2022) magnifies tiny natural phenomena into monumental portraits.
His most recent Fuji series (2024) reconsiders Japan’s iconic mountain through a personal lens - from Takasugi’s home town. Photographed from everyday settings—backstreets, rooftops, and residential areas—the mountain becomes both distant symbol and intimate memory, reconnecting the artist to his origins.
Throughout his work, Takasugi meditates on what Walter Benjamin called the "aura" of an artwork: its unique presence in time and space. He invites us to reconsider the handmade and the reproducible, the intimate and the monumental, and the ways in which perception, memory, and material intertwine.
Takasugi’s first artist book ‘As the twig is bent, so grows the tree’, published by IBASHO & the(M) éditions will be launched at the start of the exhibition.
The exhibition will run from 6 September - 9 November 2025. The vernissage and book launch will be on Saturday 6 September from 14:00 - 18:00, in the presence of the artist.
