NATSUYUKI NAKANISHI

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Natsuyuki Nakanishi obtained his bachelor's degree in oil painting from the Tokyo University of the Arts in 1958, following the Anti-Art movement in the second half of the 1950s. The traditional format of painting became obsolete during this time, and Nakanishi sought inspiration from the concept of the 'internal sense of touch', which he encountered in Herbert Read's Icon and Idea. Nakanishi discovered that the cave paintings of the Stone Age commonly captured the inner self in a tactile way and expressed it in a highly abstract form. This revelation led him to pioneer a new genre of art, and he began creating Rhyme I n 1959. Nakanishi conducted a series of activities that agitated the boundary between daily life and acts of art, including Clothespins Assert Churning Action in 1963, which featured clothespins flowing out of the screen, and direct actions in cities as a member of Hi-Red Center in the1960s. From around 1970, he returned to 'paintings' and produced a series of works, including Hopscotch at the Summit, Tangent Arc, and Purple-Violet.

In his artistic investigations, Nakanishi has consistently confronted existential questions relating to the artist's role and his relationship to art-making. While deconstructing formal elements and recomposing them into abstract motifs in his paintings, Nakanishi also takes extensive notes and makes diagrams related to the works to guide himself through his process. When reading his writing, it often seems as if Nakanishi observes his work from a distance. Surreal ideas related to the work are also expressed—in his notes, he describes his works almost as if they come into being of their own volition. For Nakanishi, painting occupies a unique realm. As an artist, he wanders through this realm, functioning as a mediator between the work and the viewer.

See all artworks

Whitestone Gallery Singapore Celebrates it’s Pre-Opening

January 11, 2023　Singapore
ART NEWS

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2022: Natsuyuki Nakanishi: Rhythm of Space-time, Long Museum (West Bund), Shanghai, China
2016: Quiet Dislocations: Notes on Contemporary Art, Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Sakura, Japan
2013-2014: Hi-Red Center: the Documents of Direct Action, Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya; Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
2012: Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA Natsuyuki Nakanishi: Rhyme, Clothespins Assert Churning Action, Passing Each Other: Receding Purple, Emerging White Spots, Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Sakura, Japan
2010-2011: Iles jamais trouvees（Island Never Found)," Doge’s Palace, Genoa, Italy; Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art, Central Macedonia, Greece; Museum Art of Saint-Etienne Metropole, Saint-Etienne, France
1997: Natsuyuki Nakanishi: Toward Whiteness, Intensity, Presence, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
1994-1995: Japanese Art After 1945: Scream Against the Sky, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Kanazawa, Japan ; Guggenheim Art Museum Soho, New York ; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
1986: Japon des avant-gardes 1910-1970, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1985: Reconstruction: Avant-Garde Art in Japan 1945-1965, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK; Edinburgh Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
1974: Japan: Tradition und Gegenwart (Japan: Tradition and Presence), Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
1965-1967: The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Art, California, USA; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois; Joslyn Art Museum, Nebraska; Columbus Art Gallery and Museum of Art, New York; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Milwaukee Art Center, Wiscinsin, USA

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA / The Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan / The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan / Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan / Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Sakura, Japan / National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan / The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Japan / The Museum of Modern Art, Otsu, Japan / Oita Art Museum, Oita, Japan / Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan / Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan / Osaka City Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan / Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan / Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan / Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan / Iwaki City Art Museum, Iwaki, Japan / Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Takamatsu, Japan / Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan

NATSUYUKI NAKANISHI

ARTWORKS

ARTICLES

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS, COLLECTIONS

MAIL MAGAZINE