Kengo Nakamura
Kengo Nakamura completed his graduate studies at Tama Art University. He creates unique paintings using motifs that reflect modern society, such as emoticons, floor plans of one-room apartments, speech bubbles from manga, and character silhouettes, while also drawing on diverse images from art history. In addition to collaborating with creators from various fields, Nakamura also organizes exhibitions and symposiums. His notable exhibitions include “Nihon Ga-Ten: 6 Artists Sparking Creativity” at the Yokohama Museum of Art (2006), and “Modern Japanese-Style Painting 1994–2014” at the Kakegawa Castle Museum (2015). In recent years, his works have been exhibited in France, where he has been steadily gaining international recognition.
＜Description of Exhibited Work＞
Nakamura is showcasing his *Hiragana Paintings* series, which features organic patterns formed by the soft, flowing lines of hiragana characters combined with a painterly background to create a distinctive visual. The hiragana elements are not drawn, but rather remain as unpainted areas of the canvas, making these works “paintings” rather than “calligraphy.” The words written in hiragana have meanings independent of the paintings themselves. In Japan, there is a belief in the mystical power of words known as *kotodama,* and hiragana, as a script, carries its own significance. This intersection of *kotodama,* visual imagery, calligraphy, and modern painting forms the central theme of this series.
For this exhibition, part of the ONE Ariake Art Festival, Nakamura is also presenting works titled *Bird-and-Flower Painting (Saga)* and *Ariake Dawn.* His *Hiragana Paintings* combine the organic lines of hiragana characters with a painterly background, creating a unique visual impact. For this exhibition, all of the works are new. In *Bird-and-Flower Painting,* Nakamura depicts the flower and bird of Saga Prefecture: the Camphor flower and the magpie. While the technique used is Japanese painting, Nakamura’s expression challenges traditional concepts.
Additionally, Nakamura has collaborated with Yamato Porcelain to create a large Arita ware plate titled *Speech Balloon in the Hinomaru,* inspired by manga speech bubbles. The interplay between countless speech bubbles and the background painting creates a harmonious display.
Giclée prints of Nakamura’s works will be available for purchase starting in late October at ANA ART TRANSIT.
