Outline

The Rhyme series that Nakanishi created from 1959 into 1960, are works executed on a support covered with paint mixed with sand onto which a spray gun and brush are used to paint patterns of two-layered “T” shapes that cover the picture plane like a thin layer of film.
For the works Clothespins Assert Churning Action Nakanishi exhibited in the 1963 Yomiuri Independent Exhibition countless aluminum clothespins were attached to paper string protruding from the canvas, the light on which created an effect that brings to mind the points of paint produced by brushwork. (The works on display in this exhibition were re-created in 1993.)
Also featured are works from the artist’s latest series titled Passing Each Other: Receding Purple, Emerging White Spots. This series arose from a re-evaluation off the vertical surface used in painting based on the question of whether the hypothetical vertical plane that would be formed when the planes represented by the chests of two people come into alignment as a single plane at the moment when they pass each other moving in opposite directions could be recognized as an equivalent to the surface of the support in a painting. The result makes us conscious of the purple and white dots functioning to create the painting or an accumulation of time.

These three series of works were created at different periods in the artist’s career, but they share a number of elements such as ‘light,’ ‘time,’ ‘repetition’ and ‘diffusion’ that are important in the artist’s questioning of the fundamental aspects of painting. In this exhibition, the interaction of these shared elements in the different works in a ‘space’ filled with light create a new temporal dimension for experiencing the nature and potential of painting.

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Profile

Born in Tokyo in 1935, Nakanishi graduated from the National University of Arts, Tokyo in 1958. In 1963, he joined with Jiro Takamatsu and Genpei Akasegawa to form the group High Red Center that together engaged in controversial ‘happenings’ that transcended the frameworks of conventional artistic creation and was thus perceived as anti-art activities at the time. However, as we see from the unique ‘color plans’ he had begun to explore from that time, it is clear that Nakanishi’s true interest lay in the relationship between painting and color as the manifestation and thus the equivalent of light. Furthermore, Nakanishi’s work with the Butoh dance artist Tatsumi Hijikata in stage art prompted serious contemplation of the relationship between a space, a person’s physical presence and painting. From the 1990s, in addition to his ongoing engagement with painting, these experiences led Nakanishi to create installation type creations that are directly informed by and involved with the nature of the specific exhibit space. This area of creation is also a manifestation of the unique concept of “generative place for painting” that Nakanishi proposes as an artist.

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Related Events

Lecture (in Japanese)

Registration from 12:00 on lecture day. Receive a lecture ticket at the museum reception desk (limited to first 60 people). Lecture admission: Free with museum admission.

November 17 (sat.) 14:00－16:00　　
Arata Tani (Art critic / Director, Utsunomiya Museum of Art) 
“Considering the early and most recent paintings of Natsuyuki Nakanishi – Their shared characteristics and unique artistic direction” 

December 8 (Sat) 14:00－16:00
Michio Hayashi (Art historian / Professor, Sophia University) 
 

Gallery Talks by the Curator (in Japanese)

Oct. 20 (Sat.), Nov. 3 (Sat.), Jan. 12 (Sat.) 14:00－15:00　
Gather at Entrance Hall, no reservations needed
 

Guided Tours

Tours of the permanent collection and special exhibition by guide staff. 
14:00－15:00 / no reservations needed / gather at Entrance Hall
（Daily except for days of lectures or curator gallery talks）