Nobuyuki Tanaka

Born in 1959, Nobuyuki Tanaka graduated in 1985 from the Tokyo University of Arts and uses the ancient dry-lacquer technique to create amorphous, curving forms with meticulously finished surfaces that incorporate tactility and translucency. The colors are those used in traditional lacquer ware: high-gloss black or red, or a mélange of both. The sculptural works range widely in size and explore both the horizontal and vertical orientations.

 

BIO

 

1959       Born in Tokyo

1983       B.F.A., Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music

1985       M.F.A., Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music

2003    Received Takashimaya Art Award, Takashimaya Culture Foundation

2012      Received the 18th MOA Mokichi Okada Prize craft arts section award

 

Lives and works in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, and works as a Professor at the Kanazawa College of Art in the Department of Craft (Urushi lacquer)

 

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

1989       Gallery Yamaguchi, Tokyo (also in ’90,’96)

1999       EXHIBITION SPACE, Tokyo

2004    Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Art Gallery, New York

2008    Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Art Gallery, New York

2009    Nizayama Forest Art Museum, Toyama

2010     Takashimaya Art Gallery X, Tokyo

2011       Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Art Gallery, New York

2014     Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo

2015     Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Art, New York

2016     The Ueno Royal Museum Gallery, Tokyo

2017     Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya

2022    Thomsen Gallery, New York

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 1987     The 5th Asahi Contemporary Crafts Exhibition, Tokyo

                Japanese Lacquerware-In Relation to Space, Wacoal Ginza Art Space, Tokyo

 

1988       LACQUER ART & CRAFT, Shibuya Seibu Craft Gallery, Tokyo

1989       Japan Design Competition Ishikawa, Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall (also

                 in’93)

                 Memorial Exhibition for Shigeo Miki, Exhibition Room of Tokyo

                 National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo

1991        Contemporary Sculpture-12 fresh artists-, KSP Gallery, Kanagawa

                 URUSHI WORK 1991, Shibuya Seibu Craft Gallery, Tokyo

1993       Nuances in Lacquer-70 Years of Innovations, Crafts Gallery, The National

                 Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

1994       Contemporary Japanese Lacquerware Artists, Studio Com, Kyoto

                 Vessels for Taste and Desire, Gallery Isogaya, Tokyo

                 Contemporary Japanese Lacquerware, Kanagawa Prefectural Hall Gallery

                 Spirit and Form of Asia-Material and Imagination-, NTT Credo Hall, Hiroshima

                 The Domain of the Medium, Crafts Gallery, The National Museum of Modern Art,

                 Tokyo

1995       Three Dimensional Miniature Works-on the Wall, Gallery Maronie, Kyoto /

                 Wacoal Ginza Art Space, Tokyo (also in ’96,’97)

                 The Vision of Contemporary Art ’95, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo

                 Power of the Earth, Gallery of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music,

                 Toride, Ibaraki

1996       The Presentiment of Beauty, Takashimaya Art Gallery, Tokyo/ Osaka / Kyoto /

                 Kanagawa

                 Rainbow and Shimmering Bridge : Contemporary Japanese Lacquerware,

                 Japan Society Gallery, New York / Denver Museum of Art, Colorado

                 The 1st Japan-Korea Friendship Exhibition of Modern Lacquer Works, Lotte Art

                 Gallery, Busan, Korea / Kanazawa City Cultural Hall, Ishikawa

                 Message to Those Yet To Be Born, Space Katachi, Tokyo

                 Contemporary Japanese Crafts, The Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo

                  World Urushi Exhibition-Its Origin and Oresent, Fujita Vente Museum, Tokyo

1998        Nature as Object-The 3rd Australia International Craft Triennial, Art Gallery

                  of Western Australia, Perth

                  The 2nd Japan-Korea Friendship Exhibition of Modern Lacquer Works, Daejeon,

                  Korea / Gallery Sowaka, Kyoto

                  Contemporary Fragrance Vessels, The Museum of Fragrance, Toyoda, Shizuoka

1999        The Genealogy of Craft Objects, Crafts Gallery, The National Museum of

                  Modern Art, Tokyo

2000     Japanese Contemporary Urushi Art Exhibition, Museum Jan Van Der Togt,

                  Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Ishikawa Wajima Urushi Art Museum

                  The International Asian Art Fair, New York (also in ’01)

                 The 3rd Japan-Korea Friendship Exhibition of Modern Lacquer Works, Gwangju,

                  Korea / Exhibition Space, Tokyo

                 Objets Plastiques, Ornaments, and Other Contemporary Works Classified into a

                 Group between Crafts and Sculptures, Takaoka Art Museum, Toyama

2001      Art Works on the Desk Top IX, Contemporary Art NIKI, Tokyo

                 VISION : Selected Works from The Collection of Toyota Municipal Museum of Art,

                 Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi

                 life/art '01, SHISEIDO Gallery, Tokyo (also in ’02,’03,’04)

2002     Traditional and Innovation : Ceramic and Lacquer, Hiroshima Prefectural Art

                 Museum

2003     New Movements in Craft I-Respective Forms-, Takashimaya Art Gallery,

                 Tokyo/Kyoto

2003     Texture and Its Meaning, Kanazawa College of Art

                 Contemporary Progressive Crafts, Hiroshima Citizen's Interchange Plaza Gallery                   (also at Tanabe Municipal Museum of Art, Wakayama, in’04)

2004     Objects Intended for the Desk Top X, Contemporary Art NIKI, Tokyo

                 New Movements in Craft II-Respective Forms-, Takashimaya Art Gallery,

                 Yokohama / Osaka / Nagoya

                 MODERN MASTERS & COLLECTION, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary

                 Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa

2005    Ars Nova-Between the Contemporary Avant-garde Art and the Crafts, Museum

                of Contemporary Art, Tokyo

                 life/art '05, SHISEIDO Gallery, Tokyo

2006    Station 2006 Vol.1 Sendai, The Eyes / Gaze of People Waiting, Sendai Station,

                 Miyagi

                Japan & Korea Lacquer Arts Exhibition, Tokyo National University Art Museum,

                 Tokyo / Ishikawa Wajima Urushi Art Museum

2007     Uchu-Miezu, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichiv

                 Cheongju International Crafts Biennale 2007, Crafts: A Mode of Life, Cheongju,

                  Korea

                  Roppongi Crossing 2007, Future Beats in Japanese Contemporary Art, Mori Art

                  Museum, Tokyo

2008      JAPAN! CULTURE+HYPER CULTURE Exhibition, Kennedy Center, Washington,   

                  D.C.

2010       First International Triennale of Kogei in Kanazawa,21st Century Museum of

                  Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

                  China Hubei International Lacquer Triennial 2010, Hubei Museum of Art, China

                  IZU URUSI ART FESTIVAL, Fukushima Museum

2011         Contemporary Japanese Lacquerware, Urasoe Art Museum, Okinawa

                  Silent Echoes;Collection 1, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

                  Urushi Exhibition; Style of New Lacquer, The Museum of Arts &Crafts, Itami

                  AIZU URUSHI ART FESTIVAL 2011, Fukushima

2012       The destination of the figurative arts-A material tells Rakusui-tei Museum of Art

                 Exhibition,Toyama

                 The 18th MOA Mokichi Okada Award:Prospecting the Future of Nihonga and                         Kogei Grand Prix of Painting Section, MOA Museum of Art

                 New Footing Eleven Approaches to Contemporary Crafts, The National Museum

                 of Modern Art, Tokyo

                 125th Anniv.Event Tokyo University of the Arts, URUSI ART history and the

                 future, Tokyo

                 AIZU URUSHI ART FESTIVAL 2012, Fukushima

2013       Kuroda Tatsuaki,Tanaka Nobuyuki-The Power of Lacquer, Toyota Municipal

                  Museum of Art/Aichi

                  2013 International Lacquer Art Exhibition, Gukje Art Museum Keimyung

                  University Korea

                  Hubei International Triennial of Lacquer Art 2013 WORLD OF GREAT LACQUER

                  ORIGIN AND FLOWS, Hubei Museum of Art, China

                  Deployment of the present age craft, Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum

                  Ishikawa

                  Contemporary Kogei Styles in Japan, Morikami Museum and Japanese         

                  Gardens, Florida

                  The Audacious Eye: Japanese Art from the Clark Collections, Minneapolis

                  Institute of Arts, Minnesota

2014        TEFAF, Maastricht

                  COLLECT, Saatchi Gallery, London

2015       Simple Forms, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

2017        Suzu Oku-Noto Triennale 2017, Suzu, Ishikawa

 

 

 

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

 Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum

The Japan Foundation, Tokyo

The Museum of Fragrance, Toyoda, Shizuoka

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi

SHISEIDO Art House, Shizuoka

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa

Utatsuyama Craft Workshop, Ishikawa

Rakusui-tei Museum, Toyama

Metropolitan Museum, New York

Gitter-Yelen Foundation, New Orleans

Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota

Victoria and Albert Museum, England

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, England

Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany

Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, Hubei, China

JT International, Geneva, Switzerland

Mori Art Museum, Tokyo

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania