This in-depth assessment explores the work of Barbara Takenaga whose
detailed, mystical paintings draw from a wide range of sources from
Japanese prints to Op Art. At once conceptual and decorative, Barbara
Takenaga's swirling, patterned paintings have been called psychedelic
and cosmic. Takenaga's approach to painting is both highly structured
and disciplined. In this collection of seventy paintings, the evolution
of Takenaga's celestial bodies and ecstatic compositions is traced over
a 20-year period. The luminous reproductions allow readers to study her
intricacies of form and color. The book includes an essay that examines
Takenaga's work in relation to historic precedents and current aesthetic
developments; a brief consideration of Takenaga's career by novelist Jim
Shepard; and a poem by Geoffrey Young.