Long Museum (West Bund) is pleased to present the Japanese artist Natsuyuki Nakanishi’s exhibition Natsuyuki Nakanishi: Rhythm of Space-time. The exhibition features Natsuyuki Nakanishi’s works after 1980 from private collection which provided by Long Museum, including oil and watercolor paintings, alongside an installation.

 

Natsuyuki Nakanishi thought that “painting is a form that enters into time and space, and is momentarily discovered as a clue to the sensibility and thinking that divides fused time and space.”From the stroke and pattern, combinations of colors, the diary of the creative process to the way of setting art works in space, his view of the world and art is reflected in all aspects of his theories and artistic practice. Time and space are infinite and things change, yet it seems to work in some rhythms. Although the artist deals with these serious issues, his work is visually dynamic and light-footed, creating his unique rhythm between chaos and order. 

This exhibition presents Natsuyuki Nakanishi’s art works along with his theories and creative records. Besides, the paintings are juxtaposed with four Chinese Guan Ware monochrome porcelains of Qing Dynasty in the exhibition hall. The interlaced motif in the paintings are reminiscent of the cracked textures and special pattern found in the production of those porcelains. They both explored the expression of color and space, as well as the inquiry of contingency and infinity. 

About the Artist

Born in 1935 in Tokyo, Natsuyuki Nakanishi attended Tokyo National University of Arts and Music where he obtained a BFA in oil painting in 1958. As a major figure of the 1960s Japanese avant-garde, Nakanishi was a founding member, along with Jiro Takamatsu and Genpei Akasegawa, of the experimental group Hi-Red Center, which was active from 1962-1964, exploring social problems. In 1965, he began collaborating with the Butoh dancers Tatsumi Hijikata and Kauo Ono. He put more emphasis on painting after those avant-garde activities. 

Natsuyuki Nakanishi passed away in 2016. He has had solo exhibitions at numerous museums, including the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (1985), the Seibu Museum (1989), the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (1995/2002-03), the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (1997), and the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art (2004/2012).