Ilon Art Gallery is thrilled to present T2 Kuwayama: Tadasky and Teru.

Tadasky Kuwayama is known for his color, geometric, Opt Art style of painting. Opt Art or Optical Art is form of abstraction that plays with the viewer’s visual perception. Master of the circle, Tadasky works almost exclusively in concentric rings creating infinite variations. By tweaking colors and widths, Tadasky caused color to appear to fluctuate, his circles to pop off of the canvas and into the viewer’s space. These compositions are calculated, precisely created and seem to radiate outward from the center.

Tadasky emigrated from Japan in 1961. Shortly after arriving in New York, Tadasky set out to create tools that would aid him to create the perfect rings he envisioned. Through painstaking experimentation in his studio, Tadasky developed a special wheel for his circles and adapted it into a drum for vertical lines. For brushwork, he used traditional Japanese brushes best suited to the fine detail of his paintings. In 1964 the Museum of Modern Art purchased A-101, 1964, as well as B-171, 1964, for its permanent collection.

My work uses geometric forms, most often the circle, because these allow me to create the visual impact that I seek. There is no philosophy or theory involved. I use identifying numbers rather than literary titles for my paintings because the artworks are not meant to refer to anything outside themselves.

(Tadasky Kuwayama)

Tadasky, or Tadasuke Kuwayama, was born in Nagoya, Japan.

Teru Kuwayama for more than 20 years, worked as a photojournalist for news magazines and aid organizations, “primarily in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Iraq.” Often embedded with military forces that ranged from “the U.S. Marines and Special Operations Forces to Indian, Pakistani and Afghan forces,” he captured images of battle and survival.

After a decade his work focused on humanitarian crises and conflict in the region surrounding Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kashmir. He is the co-author of The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq. In 2004 he co-founded Lightstalkers, the online forum for reporters, photographers, and filmmakers.

In 2010, after many years of covering the war in Afghanistan, freelance photojournalist Teru Kuwayama received an invitation to embed with the First Battalion of the Eighth Marine Regiment in Afghanistan.

Along with four other photographers they launched started Basetrack, a social-media reporting project conceived to connect Marines and their families and to target the social network—friends, family, and online presence—surrounding the battalion. Teru is a TED fellow for the last 12 years. He is a fellow from Stamford. After decades of war photography Teru was appointed photo community manager at Instagram.