Yoshinobu Nakagawa "“Views of seeds, eyes of farmers"
Cadan Otemachi
Starts 5/12
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Yoshinobu Nakagawa
We are very glad to announce our pop-up solo show by a Japanese sculptor, Yoshinobu Nakagawa at CADAN OTEMACHI during above period. Born in Osaka in 1964, Yoshinobu Nakagawa now resides and works in Shiga prefecture. He had many solo exhibitions in galleries in Osaka, Tokyo, Aichi and Hyogo, etc. And Participated in group shows in public museums, art festivals. His works are housed in many museum collections as the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Kyoto Municipal Museum, Ashiya City Museum of Arts and History, Hyogo etc. and in many company collections as Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., Tokyo.
Ever since his first solo show in 1987, the year he graduated from Osaka University of Art, Nakagawa's concern has been consistently
the relationship between plants (nature) and human being (farmer), namely agriculture and cultivation, that is a fundamental activity to us. Nakagawa recognizes the relationship between artist and art works as an analogy of that between farmers and plants. The action by Jackson Pollock dripping oil paint onto canvas on the floor, for him, is the same activity as farmers sowing plant seeds on the earth. Nakagawa himself puts pigment or oil paint on canvas as famers sow plant seeds on the field. He works on various materials as farmers cultivate the field to grow crops. His artisanship, which freely controls every kind of materials as cotton cloth, cowhide, beeswax or reclaimed paper and the poetic emotions sprung from the naive form of his works, appearing as if they have been there for a long lime, attract the viewers.
The title of this show, “views of seeds, eyes of farmers” has served as the fundamental principle and standard guiding Nakagawaʼs work since he first began creating artworks. Now, after some 40 years of repeated experimentation and trial, this concept has become increasingly strongly recognized as the very essence of his artistic practice. In the essay “A Reticent, Poetic World,” included in the catalogue of the solo show held at the Shiseido Gallery (Tokyo) in 1995, art critic Yoshiaki Inui classified Nakagawaʼs works into the following four categories:
1.who sows - works whose forms are based on farming tools such as
plows and hoes, (or the body of a farmer doing farm work) which serve
as metaphors of the farmer
2. who stores - expressed in seed jars
3.where to sow - refers to the earth, specifically the fields, expressed in
works composed from lines that denote the ridges of fields.
4.things sown, things stored - refers to plant seeds
As the fifth group, we can add
5) the works whose shapes based on the construction or form of plants.
This show features a selection of works̶both older and newer pieces̶ that represent each of the five groups, and is curated to serve as a modestsized retrospective of Nakagawaʼs career to date. We invite you to takethis opportunity to explore his artistic world.
Ever since his first solo show in 1987, the year he graduated from Osaka University of Art, Nakagawa's concern has been consistently
the relationship between plants (nature) and human being (farmer), namely agriculture and cultivation, that is a fundamental activity to us. Nakagawa recognizes the relationship between artist and art works as an analogy of that between farmers and plants. The action by Jackson Pollock dripping oil paint onto canvas on the floor, for him, is the same activity as farmers sowing plant seeds on the earth. Nakagawa himself puts pigment or oil paint on canvas as famers sow plant seeds on the field. He works on various materials as farmers cultivate the field to grow crops. His artisanship, which freely controls every kind of materials as cotton cloth, cowhide, beeswax or reclaimed paper and the poetic emotions sprung from the naive form of his works, appearing as if they have been there for a long lime, attract the viewers.
The title of this show, “views of seeds, eyes of farmers” has served as the fundamental principle and standard guiding Nakagawaʼs work since he first began creating artworks. Now, after some 40 years of repeated experimentation and trial, this concept has become increasingly strongly recognized as the very essence of his artistic practice. In the essay “A Reticent, Poetic World,” included in the catalogue of the solo show held at the Shiseido Gallery (Tokyo) in 1995, art critic Yoshiaki Inui classified Nakagawaʼs works into the following four categories:
1.who sows - works whose forms are based on farming tools such as
plows and hoes, (or the body of a farmer doing farm work) which serve
as metaphors of the farmer
2. who stores - expressed in seed jars
3.where to sow - refers to the earth, specifically the fields, expressed in
works composed from lines that denote the ridges of fields.
4.things sown, things stored - refers to plant seeds
As the fifth group, we can add
5) the works whose shapes based on the construction or form of plants.
This show features a selection of works̶both older and newer pieces̶ that represent each of the five groups, and is curated to serve as a modestsized retrospective of Nakagawaʼs career to date. We invite you to takethis opportunity to explore his artistic world.
Schedule | May 12 (Tue) 2026-May 30 (Sat) 2026 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Venue | Cadan Otemachi https://cadan.org/  | ||||
| Location | 1F, 2-6-3 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0004 | ||||
| Access | 5 minute walk from the Nihonbashi exit of JR Tokyo Station, 5 minute walk from exit B2 at Mitsukoshimae Station on the Ginza and Hanzomon lines. | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it  |
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