Osaka Brand Center

At age 32, Kohei Nawa’s name and work are far more recognized than can be imagined for most young artists. Today, Nawa is definitely one of the busiest artists of his generation and is also known as a popular icon among art students. So, what has he been making?

Nawa himself acknowledges that his creations may be categorized as sculpture, but its conventional definition often fails to accurately describe his work. For his “BEADS” series, for example, he uses various objects such as stuffed specimens and totally covers their surfaces with small glass beads. Viewed through the transparent beads, the objects appear as if they have been reduced into small particles of light, creating an effect that is powerful enough to disapprove the ordinary images that we have had of them until that moment. In another series, called “PRISM,” Nawa attempts to depict an unexplainable world that exists between reality and fiction by enclosing an object in a box made of prism sheets (which divert light in two directions). He has also produced “SCUM,” a collection of amorphous objects made of polyurethane foam, and “LIQUID,” which highlights the organic movement of liquid to express the moment when a creative idea is born. So far, Nawa has launched and continued more than five project series, all of which are abstract yet directly stimulate human senses. The true nature of Nawa’s artwork is that it shakes people’s senses and sensibilities.

Nawa is also unique in that he is quite flexible in his choice of materials and techniques, about which some artists can be very particular. “I do choose materials carefully, but it is more important for me to consider how I can use those materials as an interface and also how I can inspire people’s senses with them,” says Nawa. Having experienced the IT revolution as a graduate student, he mostly finds his materials on the Internet. “We are now free from geographic and temporal factors that used to limit our imagination,” says Nawa. “The revolution also helped remove a presumption that sculptures need to be made only of certain materials.” His attitude suggests to us that he is probably a practical example of what an artist will be in the advanced information society.

Water Cell

　 Nawa loved to make things when he was a child. As a student 　 at art college, he maintained his hopes of eventually pursuing a creative career in some form, but he just couldn’t imagine himself making a living in art. His views, however, changed after he went to England to study as an exchange student during his graduate school years. “It is extremely tough to be an artist, but successful artists are highly respected in society. I realized that and was greatly encouraged.” Since his first private exhibition in 2000, Nawa has widely expanded his activities both in Japan and overseas. This year, he plans to hold a series of monthly exhibitions at various locations around the world, including Dubai, Barcelona, Basel, Zurich, and Beijing. Based on what Nawa has demonstrated, it is reasonable to say that globalization is obviously the key to success for today’s contemporary artists.

During the 90s, artists such as Takashi Murakami attempted to establish their identities by emphasizing the peculiarity of Japanese modern culture. It is, however, not the direction in which Nawa and other artists of his generation are heading. What matters to them is simply whether to produce a superior piece of work or not. While it’s been only eight years since the 21st century began, Japanese artists today have already made an evolutionary change in the way they live and create. And Nawa’s success clearly proves this point.