Japanese Frogs (1994-)
This particular work was created while he was a graduate student and exhibited in the first exhibition ‘The World According to Us’ at Gallery Aries in 1994. Nakamura was inspired from a toy box drawing of frogs. He associated with popular culture, searching for something Kitsch. Combining the Campbell soup art of Andy Warhol and using Japanese art techniques on Washi (Japanese paper), he was able to combine the essence of fine art with Nihon-ga or traditional Japanese art.
Through his college years, majoring in Japanese art and learning the works, he couldn't deny feeling trapped in the closed minded traditional way of Japanese art. He broke the mold and strayed from the rigid works and created a contemporary art form the way he believes it should be. While Nihon-ga is sublime, the authoritative manner was not his style. Instead, he created the definition of cute, kitsch, “Pop” art images from mass productions and mass consumptions.
This particular work was created while he was a graduate student and exhibited in the first exhibition ‘The World According to Us’ at Gallery Aries in 1994. Nakamura was inspired from a toy box drawing of frogs. He associated with popular culture, searching for something Kitsch. Combining the Campbell soup art of Andy Warhol and using Japanese art techniques on Washi (Japanese paper), he was able to combine the essence of fine art with Nihon-ga or traditional Japanese art.
Through his college years, majoring in Japanese art and learning the works, he couldn't deny feeling trapped in the closed minded traditional way of Japanese art. He broke the mold and strayed from the rigid works and created a contemporary art form the way he believes it should be. While Nihon-ga is sublime, the authoritative manner was not his style. Instead, he created the definition of cute, kitsch, “Pop” art images from mass productions and mass consumptions.
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