Minoru Nomata
I went to see Minoru Nomata’s solo exhibition “ascending descending,” held at “Sagacho Archives” in 3331 Arts Chiyoda.
He is an artist who projects his own singular worldview onto his works, taking as his motifs structures that do not exist in reality.
Minoru Nomata
Born in Tokyo in 1955. After graduating from the Department of Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts in 1979, he began painting his distinctive imaginary architectural pictures based on buildings that do not exist in reality. In 1986 he held his first solo exhibition “STILL — A Quiet Garden” at Sagacho Exhibit Space, followed in 1988 by another solo show, “Arcadia — Eternal Landscape.” At Sagacho Archives, in 2012 he presented fourteen works reflecting his state of mind after the earthquake disaster, under the title “blue construction.”
His major exhibitions include “Architecture on Canvas” (2004, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery), “Alternative Sights — The Landscapes of Minoru Nomata” (2010, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma), and “Imaginary Architecture — From Piranesi to Minoru Nomata” (2013, Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts). His principal art books include “Points of View” (2004, Tokyo Shoseki), “Alternative Sights” (2010, Seigensha), and “ELEMENTS — Over There, Over Here, Fragments” (2012, Seigensha). In addition to his activities as an artist, he also serves as a professor in the Visual Design major of the Department of Design and Crafts at Joshibi University of Art and Design.
The title of this solo exhibition, “ascending descending,” translates literally as “ascending order, descending order” — a phrase whose very sound conveys a somehow mysterious worldview.
The mastery of his rendering of spheres is superb, of course, but the landscapes that unfold — like nothing you have ever seen — are so captivating that you feel drawn right in.
Where on earth is this place?
Though the objects are still and silent, they also carry an unstable feeling, as if they might float away somewhere at any moment.
The vivid blue of the sky and water is wonderfully soothing.
Despite their high price tags, the works seemed to be selling well. He must have a solid base of devoted fans.
Simply an overwhelming world. The world inside the works came to feel like the ordinary one, and I, standing there viewing them, began to feel like the strange presence.
