Daisuke Nakano, who loved making things since he was a child, went on to study design at an art high school in Kyoto. He encountered Japanese painting as a high school student. At the age of 19, he painted a picture of a camel, which was exhibited for the first time in a group exhibition. For the next 15 years, he produced large-scale works with various animal motifs. Currently, he paints not only animals, but also plants and other subjects using techniques from Japanese painting.
Moments and Spaces
The cranes are about to take flight. In a world of falling snow and silver, the breath of the cranes in groups conveys their connection to the cold of the northern country. The animals depicted by Nakano Daisuke are individuals with blood flowing through the cycle of nature, and they are alive. The beauty of life that runs unintentionally appears on screen through Nakano Daisuke's eyes. People, nature, animals. The cycle that surrounds us emerges as a new, primal landscape, brought to life by the essence of Nakano's aesthetics.
The beauty of Daisuke Nakano's works can be broadly categorized into three essential elements. One is the beauty of animals and plants themselves. The moment when nature can be seen as it is. What creates that beauty on the screen is the techniques of Japanese painting and the way of capturing it. And what supports these two foundations and forms the foundation when they emerge on the screen is the things he has accumulated in his life and the landscapes that inspired him.
Animals, each with their own blood flowing through them, live in nature, fulfilling their own roles within the laws of nature. As the seasons change, plants take root in the earth, and animals enjoy life for a moment. Animals and plants enjoy their lives in their own time.
The flow of the seasons is in our genes. Have you ever felt nostalgic about a landscape you have never seen before? The plants and animals depicted in Nakano's work. Even if you have never seen the landscape before, if you were born and live in Japan, you will feel nostalgic. The environment in which we live. Or, even before you were born, the screen shares emotions that evoke memories that run through our blood, having been born in Japan.
"I think there are two types of emotion: fresh emotion and emotion that comes from nostalgia," says Daisuke Nakano. Nakano's heart-tugging beauty probably strikes a chord in the hearts of many people. That's why when we see his work, we feel a sense of nostalgia. However, his work does not only evoke nostalgia, but also emotion that comes from freshness.
The cranes are a snapshot of a moment. The pictorial quality of their placement and white space comes from Nakano Daisuke's technique and originality. He enrolled in the design department of an art high school in Kyoto. He said that the reason he enrolled was because of the freedom. He has produced a wide variety of works. He learned design in a free environment. And he has been painting Japanese-style paintings since he was 18 years old. The calculation of his sensibility, the addition and subtraction of white space and placement, creates new emotions in Nakano Daisuke's works that go beyond mere primitive landscapes.
Nakano Daisuke's work depicts plants and animals in their natural state, and by adding an emotional intention to the arrangement, he gives a sense of nostalgia and freshness. By using foil to eliminate phenomenal time, he depicts the subject's unique time. The blank space in the background creates a slight distance between the motif and the phenomenon. His work, which is always created by balancing what is lost in painting and what is born in painting, will continue to capture people's hearts.
Daisuke Nakano
Born in Kyoto Prefecture
First exhibition at age 19 (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
2019 Solo exhibition "Burst of Nature" (Ippodo New York) "Painted Birds: Colorful Birds" (Saga Arashiyama Bunkakan Museum) "A BRUSH WITH BEAUTY" (Indianapolis Museum of Art)
2020 Solo Exhibition (Ginza Ippodo)
2021 Solo Exhibition (Portland Japanese Garden, USA)
2025 Solo Exhibition (Ginza Ippodo)
Collection: NEWFIELDS (Indianapolis Museum of Art)
