Nagakura Kenichi

“For me it is very important to use parts of a bamboo plant from above ground and parts from below ground,” Nagakura says. “I like to add bamboo roots to some of my work as a reminder of the dark side of life.”

Unaffiliated with any of Japan’s craft arts organizations, Nagakura is the first recipient of the Cotsen Bamboo Prize, awarded in 2000, and an esteemed independent artist for more than 20 years.

His organic, contemporary pieces are rooted in the functional baskets made for centuries for flower arranging at Japanese tea ceremonies but also borrow from wide-ranging sources, including European sculpture, the American pop art movement, indigenous Japanese forms, and cord-patterned clay work from the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. His fine plaiting mimics complex line drawing and the graceful shapes of his vessels are inspired by human form and by objects from the natural world, such as fallen leaves, emerging shoots, and cocoons.

Nagakura began his career dyeing fabric for kimonos but quickly realized he wanted to make artwork, like ceramics, that had an inherent vitality. He spent three years splitting bamboo for his grandfather, who was a bamboo craftsman. Several years later, he brought his work to a contemporary gallery that gave him a solo show. He is passionate about jazz, classical, and rock music, and strives to elicit the “rhythm and harmony” of bamboo. Nagakura’s work is in the collection of the Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art.

BIO/CV

1952-2018, Shizuoka City, Japan

Education

1975
Studied under his grandfather

Exhibitions & Accolades

1982
Solo exhibition, Gallery Takei, Numazu
1985
Solo exhibition, Shin-Gifu Department Store
1986
Solo exhibition, Gallery Takei, Numazu and at Shizuoka Gas Salon
1988
Solo exhibition, Sapoa People, Tokyo and MOA Gallery, Nagoya
1990
Solo exhibition, Umeda Hankyu Department Store, Osaka
Solo exhibition, Gallery Kouki, Paris
1991
Solo exhibition, La Richipel Surle, Bourgogne
Solo exhibition, Gallery Kukan, Shizuoka and at Shoumeido Hall, Tokyo
1992
Solo exhibition, Gallery Space Ten, Tokyo
Group exhibition, Gallery Yummy, Hamamatsu and at Studio Com, Kyoto
1993
Solo exhibition, Shoumeido Hall, Gallery F and Gifu Gallery, Space Ten, Tokyo
Solo exhibition, Hokushin Gallery, Tokyo
1994
Solo exhibition, Studio Com, Kyoto and at Gallery Kukan, Shizuoka
Solo exhibition, Matsuya Department Store, Tokyo
1995
Solo exhibitions, Akasaka Yu Gallery, Tokyo and Fujii and at Numazu and Shin-Gifu Department Stores
1996
Solo exhibitions, Isetan, Shizuoka and Kanazawa Department Stores
Two person exhibition, Ishigami-no-Oka Open Air Museum, Iwate
1997
Solo exhibition, Gallery Kasumi and at Axis Sapoa People, Tokyo
Exhibition, German Culture Center, Tokyo
1998
Solo exhibitions, Kura Gallery, Gifu and at Axis Sapoa People, Tokyo
Group Exhibition, Kodaira Shomei Hall, Tokyo
1999
Solo exhibition, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2000
Bamboo Masterworks, Asia Society, New York, NY
2001
Winner, Cotsen Bamboo Prize 2000
Bamboo Masterworks, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
Solo exhibition, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2001, Bamboo Masterworks, Honolulu Academy of Art, Hawaii
2001, Bamboo Fantasies, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2002
The Next Generation, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR
Group Exhibition, Tigerman Himmel Gallery, Chicago, IL
2003
Three Views of Bamboo: Fujinuma, Nagakura, Shono, Kansas City Jewish Museum, Overland Park, KS
Solo Exhibition, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2004
Group Exhibition, Hand Workshop Art Center, Richmond, VA
2005
Solo Exhibition, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Exhibited at the Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
2006
Power & Delicacy, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Hin: The Quiet Beauty of Japanese Art, Grinnell College, IA and the Chicago Cultural Center, IL
Group Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Collaboration with Daniel Ost at Nocturne, Brussels
2007
Solo Exhibition, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Arts of Pacific Asia Show, San Francisco, CA
Listening to Bamboo: Japanese Baskets from the Collection of Ritalou & Robert Harris, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2008
Arts of Pacific Asia Show, San Francisco, CA
New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters, Japan Society, New York, NY
2009
Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection, The New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
New Bamboo, Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture, Hanford, CA
Solo Exhibition, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Form Follows Function or Does It?, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, AR
Listening to Bamboo, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
2010
Intertwined Bamboo and Stem, Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Los Angeles, CA
Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
2011
Solo Exhibition, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2012
Solo Exhibition, Nagakura Kenichi: Fluid Duality, Denver Botanic Gardens, CO
2013
Birds in the Art of Japan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Solo Show, TAI Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2017
Masterpieces of Japanese Bamboo Art, TAI Modern at Joan B Mirviss LTD, New York, NY
Abbey Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2018
Hanakago: The Art of Bamboo & Flowers, Portland Japanese Gardens, Portland, OR
Masterworks of Japanese Bamboo Art, TAI Modern at Jason Jacques Gallery, New York, NY
Fendre L’ Air, Musee du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, Paris
2020
Spring is Here, TAI Modern, Santa Fe, NM

Museum Collections

Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Abbey Collection, New York, NY
Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

ARTIST STATEMENT

For me, bamboo is what pigment is for a painter or stone is for a sculptor. Discovering their true medium is a profound pleasure for an artist. When the sensitivities of both artist and the material are in sync, the medium becomes the voice, flesh, and heart of the artist.

Working with bamboo, I become both author and audience. The resulting creation stands between two worlds – visible and invisible. I hope that it resonates with an eternal spirit and stirs the soul.

My relationship with bamboo will continue throughout my life.

Sometimes like a ridge of sand
Sometimes like water running over the surface of a rock
Sometimes scenes of swirling winds
Sometimes a piece of fallen leaf, quietly lying on the ground

For me, inspiration comes from the workings of nature, both large and small, near and distant. My desire is to share with other human beings the silent voice of nature.