Katsumi Nakai

Artist

  • Katsumi Nakai was a Japanese visual artist, born in 1927 in Hirakata, Osaka and died in Hirakata in 2013. The colourful layers in Nakai’s multi-dimensional pictorial objects multiply and cheerfully transform, as almost an intricate game of origami, spellbinding the viewer and unveiling, before their eyes, metaphysical mysteries. Nakai’s unique voice is a synthesis of the progressive ideals of the Nuova Scuola di Milano and the rich history of Japan, specifically its dedicated craftsmanship and its poetic allusiveness. More

Overview

Ronchini Gallery is proud to present the first UK solo exhibition of Japanese artist Katsumi Nakai. With works spanning from the 1960s to 2012, this exhibition presents a comprehensive overview of this critical figure whose artistic achievements have yet to be fully appreciated on a grand scale.

Nakai’s multi-coloured wooden structures probe the pictorial surface and its levels of dimensionality, which are delicately raised and projected into the viewer’s space. In this sense, Nakai’s work exceeds the limits of the flat canvas, by staging an interplay between outward projections, form, and volumes.

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