【AAFHK2026 #2】Takeshi Harada at Gallery Seek Booth F02 — Reconstructing Memory in Metal

Takeshi Harada — Artist page
Biography, available works and enquiries

From May 14 (Thu) to 17 (Sun), Gallery Seek exhibits at Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong 2026, at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). Find us at Booth F02. We present four Japanese artists — and today we introduce one of them: Takeshi Harada (b. 1984, Aichi Prefecture).
A graduate of Hiroshima City University’s Metal Sculpture program (MFA 2009), Harada received the Tokyo Midtown Award 2014 Grand Prix. He works in copper, brass, silver, urushi (Japanese lacquer), and metal leaf — combining the three classical Japanese metalwork techniques of forging (tankin), chasing (chokin), and casting (chukin) — to reconstruct childhood memories of observing tiny creatures in nature.
Harada uses no paint whatsoever: every color emerges from chemical patination (potassium sulfide oxidation, flame oxidation at controlled temperatures around 220°C) and from alloying multiple metals. The result is a body of work where the surface is intrinsic to the material, not applied — and therefore durable and reversible over decades.
His recent “scenery” series places small natural moments — a dandelion with an ant, a snail on hydrangea after rain, a frog on a three-legged incense burner — inside objects that serve a function. Sculptures that, on closer inspection, are working incense burners or vessels. The joy of noticing the function is itself part of the work.
【Hong Kong selection: 14 pieces, HKD 4,053 – 42,842】
▶ Trace (2024) / H44×W30×D30cm / HKD 42,842 — A substantial work bringing together copper, silver, brass, iron, and tin. Multiple metals converge to give three-dimensional form to traces left by time.
▶ spring -Dandelion and Japanese Five-lined Skink Three-legged Incense Burner- (2025) / HKD 26,053 — A signature “functional sculpture” — incense burner adorned with dandelion and skink.
▶ Summer Night (2025) / HKD 18,526 — Silver leaf shimmers softly, capturing the still air of a summer night recalled from childhood.
▶ Late Summer (2025) / HKD 18,526 — Silver and copper leaves intermingle to evoke the lingering traces of summer’s end.
Plus Swallowtail butterfly, Moonlight Spider’s Thread, My pudding a la mode, My canelé (two sizes), Road, A break in the rainy season — fourteen pieces in total, ranging from HKD 4,000 study pieces to HKD 42,000 keynote works.
【Fair Information】
– Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong 2026
– May 14 (Thu) Private View – 17 (Sun) 2026
– Public Days: Fri 12-20 / Sat 10-19 / Sun 10-19
– Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)
– Gallery Seek Booth F02
▶ Inquiries: https://art-scenes.net/ja/artworks/42655