Masakatsu Takagi

Takagi's work as a visual artist has been showcased at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art.^[2][3] His work was noticed by Apple Inc., and he was featured in a 3-minute promotional video for the company about how Takagi creates his videos on a Macintosh system, and Apple Pro software, including Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. He also uses Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop in his videos.^[4]

From a period in 2003 to 2004 he toured with David Sylvian on the "Fire in the Forest" Tour, creating visuals to accompany the performances. The two later collaborated on the track "Exit/Delete" from Coieda (2004).^[5]

In 2011, Takagi's song "Nijiko" was used in a video for an Intel's "Museum of Me".^[6][7] The video won six awards at the 2012 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.^[8][9]

He wrote the score for Mamoru Hosoda's films Wolf Children (2012), The Boy and the Beast (2015) and Mirai (2018).^[10] His score for Wolf Children was selected as "iTunes Best Soundtrack of 2012" in Japan.^[11] He also wrote the music for the Studio Ghibli documentary The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013).

Shortly after moving to a small village in Hyōgo, Japan, Takagi recorded Kagayaki (2014), blending his background in classical music with Japanese folk music. The album was recorded in nature and among the local villagers, who sing on the album. It is his most critically acclaimed solo work and is ranked number one on the website Rate Your Music's New Age charts.^[12]

In 2018 he began the Marginalia series, a series of improvised piano performances from his private studio in Hyōgo recorded with the windows open to capture the sound of the local nature and wildlife.^[13] These recordings are released on Bandcamp and Spotify, and the works have resulted in five studio albums.^[14]

Takagi was born in Kameoka, Kyoto, Japan on October 3, 1979, and began playing music and creating visual art at an early age. As his interest in visual art grew, he began creating music videos for his musician friends, and video projections to be displayed in art galleries.^[15] He later attended Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, graduating with English.

In 2013 Takagi moved to a village in Hyōgo Prefecture where he lives with his wife and children.^[13] He spends his free time renovating old folk houses and cultivating his own vegetable garden.^[16]