From January 22nd (Sat) to April 21st (Thu), 2022, DIESEL ART GALLERY will host Japanese up-coming and internationally recognized graphic designer/artist Rei Nakanishi’s solo exhibition “TREE OF LIFE”.
Born in 1994, Rei moved to the United States in 2016. While working as an assistant to New York based Japanese artist Meguru Yamaguchi, he also started his own art projects. After returning to Japan in 2019, he produced his most renowned series Flower of Life as a freelancer, and to this day, he constantly releases new artwork and enthusiastically participates in numerous group exhibitions both domestically and internationally. Rei is also a member of “GOLD WOOD ART WORKS,” led by Meguru Yamaguchi.
His artistic style combines a unique painting expression that emphasizes the characteristics of acrylic paint with printing techniques centered on his experience as a graphic designer, all the while challenging the very definition of modern art.
For Rei’s solo exhibition “TREE OF LIFE”, a limited number of catalogs exclusively made for the occasion will be available for purchase.
To commemorate the event, a DIESEL and Rei Nakanishi collaboration hoodie, and exhibition limited wallpaper will be released.
Artist Statement
Confronting in earnest the context of art history, I create art everyday aiming to update the context of painting through my own thoughts and techniques.
Like things that can be perceived in a binary such as “life and death” and “past and future,” my works, which combine analog and digital methods, are completed by allowing opposing themes to coexist within a frame.
In the method I define as analog, I use various mediums––including spray paint, acrylic pigments, and crayon––and directly face the canvas and panel as I layer on the paint to create depth in space. The analog process where I intuitively develop free lines and planes contains the physicality of my senses and my bodily core.
The other method is digital.
I use the computer to immerse myself in representation. I realize motifs using computer graphics to create images latent within me. This allows me to visualize a minute world invisible to the naked eye and an infinite opening, and at times the method serves as a cooling mechanism, providing objectivity and some distance to the work.
I combine these two designs, born out of completely different processes, using technology unique to our times and sublimate them into a single artwork.
– Rei Nakanishi
Japanese contemporary up-coming artist Rei Nakanishi is announcing his new largest art series at DIESEL ART GALLERY in Shibuya, Tokyo.
From January 22nd (Sat) to April 21st (Thu), 2022, DIESEL ART GALLERY will host Japanese up-coming and internationally recognized graphic designer/artist Rei Nakanishi’s solo exhibition “TREE OF LIFE”.
Born in 1994, Rei moved to the United States in 2016. While working as an assistant to New York based Japanese artist Meguru Yamaguchi, he also started his own art projects. After returning to Japan in 2019, he produced his most renowned series Flower of Life as a freelancer, and to this day, he constantly releases new artwork and enthusiastically participates in numerous group exhibitions both domestically and internationally. Rei is also a member of “GOLD WOOD ART WORKS,” led by Meguru Yamaguchi.
His artistic style combines a unique painting expression that emphasizes the characteristics of acrylic paint with printing techniques centered on his experience as a graphic designer, all the while challenging the very definition of modern art.
For Rei’s solo exhibition “TREE OF LIFE”, a limited number of catalogs exclusively made for the occasion will be available for purchase.
To commemorate the event, a DIESEL and Rei Nakanishi collaboration hoodie, and exhibition limited wallpaper will be released.
Artist Statement
Confronting in earnest the context of art history, I create art everyday aiming to update the context of painting through my own thoughts and techniques.
Like things that can be perceived in a binary such as “life and death” and “past and future,” my works, which combine analog and digital methods, are completed by allowing opposing themes to coexist within a frame.
In the method I define as analog, I use various mediums––including spray paint, acrylic pigments, and crayon––and directly face the canvas and panel as I layer on the paint to create depth in space. The analog process where I intuitively develop free lines and planes contains the physicality of my senses and my bodily core.
The other method is digital.
I use the computer to immerse myself in representation. I realize motifs using computer graphics to create images latent within me. This allows me to visualize a minute world invisible to the naked eye and an infinite opening, and at times the method serves as a cooling mechanism, providing objectivity and some distance to the work.
I combine these two designs, born out of completely different processes, using technology unique to our times and sublimate them into a single artwork.
– Rei Nakanishi
