Project 131: Nobuhiko Nukata

Nobuhiko Nukata came into greater notice when he was included in a group exhibition, PAINTING FOR JOY, in 1999, which included such now brand names as Takashi Murakami and Michi Nara. The show went to the United States and Europe, and gave Nukata a somewhat international name. Now it is 2003, and while he hasn’t reached the status of Murakami, this gap may not be as unfortunate as it looks.
Nukata speaks of GAPS when talking of his work: But I will add his thoughts at the end of this.
Nukata puts down a flat color first, in oil, and then draws over it. There are no templates or tape used and each line is drawn by hand. While this lowering of mechanical process allows for discrete discrepancies to whether a line is straight or equally thin, the flat under the variegated line offers just the right equilibrium to bring the picture home. Nobuhiko Nukata works in series, and anyone who knows his work knows well Jungle-gym and Room. For this exhibition there are selected picks from four series--Jungle-gym, Room, Point, and Car. And each set is unlike the next.
The cliched saying goes 'when you live in a world of uncertainties you thrive on certainties', which, when looking at Nukata's work firsthand you won't get much of. For Nukata, a world of gaps means a place of potential. For a painter such as Nukata the joy is in the transformation of emptyness and objects into 'forever building up to fall dow' anomalies. The work kind of doen't look like the Japanese stuff suited for western taste. There is a clunkiness, a hard-headed feel to the work which might turn some viewers off. Though Nukata says he has little interest in bridging the gaps between the work and the viewer. As he says, he draws not because he wants to fill a gap between the artist and audience, instead, he draws to bring into existence the gap.
When you build a nest not all the eggs that it was built for might hatch, and not all the chicks may fly. This is the gap of nature. There is a place for these disturbances and reads much like Nukata's latest permutations, especially jungle-gym.

If you're in Tokyo, look in at Humanite and see what it is, this gap, that he talks about.

Nobuhiko Nukata ‘a nesting place’ was at GALERIE Tokyo Humanite

view of some 2001 work , text by Satsuki Yamamoto , assemblylanguage 2002 article

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	Nobuhiko Nukata 'a nesting place' Galerie Tokyo Humanite
	Nobuhiko Nukata came into greater notice when he was included in a group exhibition, PAINTING FOR JOY, in 1999, which included such now brand names as Takashi Murakami and Michi Nara. The show went to the United States and Europe, and gave Nukata a somewhat international name. Now it is 2003, and while he hasn’t reached the status of Murakami, this gap may not be as unfortunate as it looks. Nukata speaks of GAPS when talking of his work: But I will add his thoughts at the end of this. Nukata puts down a flat color first, in oil, and then draws over it. There are no templates or tape used and each line is drawn by hand. While this lowering of mechanical process allows for discrete discrepancies to whether a line is straight or equally thin, the flat under the variegated line offers just the right equilibrium to bring the picture home. Nobuhiko Nukata works in series, and anyone who knows his work knows well Jungle-gym and Room. For this exhibition there are selected picks from four series--Jungle-gym, Room, Point, and Car. And each set is unlike the next. The cliched saying goes 'when you live in a world of uncertainties you thrive on certainties', which, when looking at Nukata's work firsthand you won't get much of. For Nukata, a world of gaps means a place of potential. For a painter such as Nukata the joy is in the transformation of emptyness and objects into 'forever building up to fall dow' anomalies. The work kind of doen't look like the Japanese stuff suited for western taste. There is a clunkiness, a hard-headed feel to the work which might turn some viewers off. Though Nukata says he has little interest in bridging the gaps between the work and the viewer. As he says, he draws not because he wants to fill a gap between the artist and audience, instead, he draws to bring into existence the gap. When you build a nest not all the eggs that it was built for might hatch, and not all the chicks may fly. This is the gap of nature. There is a place for these disturbances and reads much like Nukata's latest permutations, especially jungle-gym. If you're in Tokyo, look in at Humanite and see what it is, this gap, that he talks about. Nobuhiko Nukata ‘a nesting place’ was at GALERIE Tokyo Humanite view of some 2001 work , text by Satsuki Yamamoto , assemblylanguage 2002 article
text credits brent hallard 2003	contact: info@brenthallard.com back to Tokyo Note front page