Hino gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Isao Nakamura from Monday, March 8th, 2021.

Most of Nakamura’s works have fallen into the category of painterly abstraction since he began his artistic practice in the 1970s. This suggests that he has significant expectations and beliefs that there is still some undiscovered time and space, which transcend his imagination and that he, himself, cannot even visualize: but could be created through the juxtaposition of very simple elements such as composition, figuration and colour. This inquiry led to the production of a series of paintings entitled “ISEI”.

During the 1980s and into the 90s, when facing a canvas, Nakamura would attempt to reach an “unseeable” side that he thought must exist beyond the picture plane. It could be said that the paintings he produced at that time were generated within himself and did not in any way attempt to deny subjectivity. The artist must have been aspiring and longing for the “unseeable” side.

From 2000 or so, the subjects in Nakamura’s works changed gradually: sometimes they were self-referential and sometimes they reflected actual elements of things in society. His processes also changed and shifted from an active to a more passive approach, where he learned to value the inevitability of happenings on canvas. It is always hard to silence the artist’s ego but Nakamura attempted to play down his personal intentions by perceiving exogenous phenomena that occur in society or nature, for example, by responding reflexively to unpredictable forms or matière qualities that naturally appear on the canvas. Nakamura allowed those resulting colours and forms to remain as part of the work. The artist’s consciousness of the space of his work was transformed from beyond the screen to the surface of canvas around this time and it may also have contributed to the changes in his making process.

The subject of Nakamura’s work, which shifted from an imaginary hidden world to something more tangible or actual, and then continued to change over the years to an ‘invisible external world’ that surpasses everything. For the past 10 years, Nakamura has had a sort of certainty that this world isn’t only in the imagination, but that it actually exists. It is undeniable that this adheres to the artist’s inner psychological mindset, however, subjectivity seems to be reduced more in his recent works and instead, it appears that those paintings are somehow filled with an enormous force including the force of nature.

Nakamura’s latest paintings are more vigorous and appear to embody a stronger sense of movement. It feels there is some undefinable external force, which neither comes from the artist nor society, and somehow physically empowers the artist, almost as if he’s being manipulated by something other: some more powerful, unfathomable force perhaps. These paintings, which engender a physical sense of what may be construed as “wriggling” that is not only sensed visually, present a new aspect of “ISEI”, where Nakamura’s ‘invisible external world’ becomes perceptible.

Hino gallery will be presenting a solo exhibition by Nakamura for the first time in two years. The show consists of his most recent works including a large-scale painting, which is approximately three meters wide. We hope you will enjoy it.


*To prevent the spread of COVID-19, no opening reception will be held. Please wear a mask when you come to the gallery. Also, please note that our regular opening hours have changed to 11am to 6pm. The period of the exhibition and opening hours may change according to future circumstances. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.