New Energy:
Recent Work by Matthew Shoki Tanabe
and Adam Zeek
January 31 to June 13, 2025
We both have daughters, not far from one another in age. While we haven’t held many conversations about what fatherhood means to us – how it has shaped us, what we continue to learn – there is a new thread we both follow that is no longer ours alone, one that pushes and pulls us through avenues of experience that are at once familiar and totally, recklessly strange underfoot. Navigating new terrain and gazing upon new landscapes demands a new perspective through aging eyes. In moments of exhaustion, we tap into a new energy, harnessing our lived experiences as kids again.
— Shoki Tanabe and Adam Zeek,
as they planned the collaborative New Energy exhibition
Shoki Tanabe and Adam Zeek were born on different continents, Tanabe in Tokyo and Zeek in Oregon, but both grew up in Salem, and graduated from South Salem High School in 2002. Now the lifelong friends are collaborating on their first joint exhibition. In New Energy, Shoki Tanabe shows paintings in acrylic, graphite, and oil pastel on canvas or wood. Adam Zeek exhibits carved wood panels.
While the artists share their South Salem upbringing and their time at South Salem High School, each experienced different paths to get where they are in their creative practices.
“Oranges in Midwinter” Shoki Tanabe
Shoki Tanabe and Adam Zeek were born on different continents, Tanabe in Tokyo and Zeek in Oregon, but both grew up in Salem, and graduated from South Salem High School in 2002. Now the lifelong friends are collaborating on their first joint exhibition. In New Energy, Shoki Tanabe shows paintings in acrylic, graphite, and oil pastel on canvas or wood. Adam Zeek exhibits carved wood panels.
While the artists share their South Salem upbringing and their time at South Salem High School, each experienced different paths to get where they are in their creative practices.
In high school, Tanabe was involved in writing, producing, and recording music with friends who shared that passion in Salem, which, at the time, had a rich local music scene. He made drawings in his school notebooks, but didn't explore other mediums until he was in college and declared Studio Art as a major. He received his BFA in painting and creative writing, and his Master's degree in teaching, from Willamette University. His graduate degree led him to a teaching job in Japan, and he is now on the faculty of South Salem High School teaching art.
“My work has always turned its gaze inward, compelled more by the shadowy elements that coalesce to create and define my identity (or perceived identity), than by my interpretation and filtration of external events slipping through the often-sticky membrane of ego. It can be challenging to step confidently through a landscape obscured by itself. . . . In the last few years I have . . . turned my gaze refreshingly outward. I’ve been shown a new lens, and it reveals illumination in the simplest ideas, the smallest forms. There is a new layer being pronounced in my topography, and it is informed by new patterns I’m noticing in familiar things,” said Tanabe.
“Sing with Others” Adam Zeek
Adam Zeek has called North Plains home for the last decade. In school, he, too, discovered an underground scene of art and music. After high school, he set out looking for mentors, crediting his parents, Alan and Mary Lou Zeek, as his first true teachers who shared much skill and insight. He remembers visiting the studio of one of Salem’s now most noted artists, Dan May, and attending his Drawing Nights. He continues to search for mentors - people and places - that can guide him, not just in working with wood, but also in navigating the delicate balance of life and art.
“Crafting with wood has been my passion throughout my adult life, but it was only three years ago that I dove into the art of wood carving. I had the privilege of learning the basics under the guidance of master carver Monica Setziol, and since then, I’ve drawn inspiration from nature and learned experience. For me, carving is more than a craft; it’s a space for reflection—a meditative practice that helps me clear my mind and explore new perspectives,” said Adam Zeek.
A companion exhibition of additional work by both artists will be show in the Art Hall at the Salem Public Library from March 11 – June 13, 2025.
This exhibition, New Energy: Recent Work by Shoki Tanabe and Adam Zeek, is generously supported by a Project Grant from the City of Salem’s Transient Occupancy Tax Funds and a Small Operating Grant from the Oregon Arts Commission.