Yoshinobu Nakagawa

1964 Born in Osaka, Japan
1987 B.A. Fine Art, Osaka University of Arts
Currently lives in Shiga, Japan

Born in Osaka in 1964, Yoshinobu Nakagawa now resides in Shiga prefecture. Since his first solo exhibition in 1987, the year he graduated from Osaka University of Arts, he has consistently explored the relationship between plants, agriculture, and human beings. For Nakagawa, painting resembles farming: applying pigment to a surface is like sowing seeds
into the earth.
His practice develops through four key concepts: “who sows,” “who stores,” “where to sow,” and “things sown, things stored.” These ideas appear through motifs such as farming tools, seed jars, field-like linear compositions, and delicate drawings of seed forms made with wax soot.
Although trained as a painter, Nakagawa has mainly created three-dimensional works. Moving between two-dimensional and three-dimensional expression, he continues to question the essential qualities of both painting and sculpture.