Taku Obata began his creative journey not as a sculptor, but as a B-boy. Breakdancing was his first artistic passion, and it still drives the energy and spirit of his work today. Growing up in Tokorozawa, Japan, during the 1990s, he was drawn into breakdance culture through his older brother. The fusion of music, movement, fashion, and community sparked his imagination and shaped his visual sensibility. Determined to translate the dynamism of dance into a new artistic form, Obata set himself an unusual goal: to carve B-boy figures in wood. Believing this territory was largely unexplored, he committed to pushing sculptural boundaries. He went on to study at the prestigious Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geidai), where he honed his technical mastery and completed his master’s degree in 2008. Today, Obata is internationally acclaimed for his life-size and monumental sculptures of B-boys and B-girls, alongside drawings, paintings, and films that investigate motion, rhythm, and the expressive potential of the human body.While breakdance is defined by speed and spontaneity, Obata’s artistic process is careful and methodical. Influenced by masters such as Hirakushi Denchū and Michelangelo, he approaches each work with exceptional precision and patience, often spending months on a single sculpture. The interplay of contrasts is fundamental to his practice. His paintings frequently balance figuration and abstraction, while his sculptures combine traditional carving tools and techniques with the bold attitude and flamboyant style of 1980s breakdance culture. Opposites—old and new, restraint and energy, tradition and rebellion—coexist throughout his work. Rather than competing, these elements achieve a dynamic harmony. Like the global breakdance community that inspires him, each piece stands on its own yet remains connected through a shared sense of movement, identity, and rhythm.

Taku Obata

Japanese

Main

Artist

Printer

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B-Boy Abstract and Slid