Art is your earth through your heart.

photo : Hiroko Hori at Teruuchi Studio

AKITO NARA

 His art journey has begun in the end of 2013 during his life in New York, US.

 He draws out scenes and subjects from randomly composed backgrounds and interweaves them with his own memories and imagination to create an expression that connects the unconscious with the conscious. The colors, strokes, and layers of his paintings attempt to create a disorderly harmony, evoking pure impulsiveness and multifaceted flavors, while also evoking the complex balance inherent in human nature of emotions and energy rippling on the side of the laws of reason. His style is influenced by the free and colorful air of New York's diverse and cosmopolitan New York, as well as the original and rebellious street punk scene, and he is not concerned with conventional concepts or strategic creation. He does not stick to a formulaic conception or strategic creation. He emphasizes the process of starting from nothing and accidentally creating something as the essence of art, and projects his changing self through the process of life into it. He follows what comes to him spontaneously at any given moment and his desire to paint, and puts his love into the physical production in order to bring his “individuality” to life.

 At the age of 25, Nara began painting as the only place she could find to output her senses in a way that could not be verbalized. Growing up in a painting-oriented environment, she was inspired by her mother's love of rock music and science fiction movies, and was fascinated by art, foreign countries, and the unknown of space. In his father's hometown, he was exposed to the magnificent nature and history of the Ainu people, and he was also interested in the connection with beings beyond the material individual through the sacred realm of temples and other places associated with his grandfather. Although he was unable to choose a career in art as a student, majoring in engineering and design, the logical thinking and sense of color that he developed during those years played a major role in the worldview and creations that he would later unleash. For Nara, art is like the light of life, the cradle of the soul. His journey to the truth overlaps with his own universe (Heart) and the world he sees (Earth), which expands with his life experiences and introspection. The work's coloring and composition boldly and delicately sways and burns deeply, providing the viewer with a window into the time and space of various imaginings.

 The landscapes, dramas, budding emotions, and artistic ideas he encounters on this journey, not to mention the artists he has seen, the West and the East, quantum cosmology, philosophy, mythology, religious studies, fiction, and counterculture, are all involved with his inspiration. In Nara's view of the universe, a great cycle (♾️) occurs between the unintentional micro realm of the unconscious (0) and the intentional macro realm of consciousness (1), which is like surrendering consciousness to outer space. In his production, which draws from a third place encompassing the unconscious and the conscious, there is an oscillation of creativity that transcends the limitations of the ego and an inquiry into the universe that lies within him.0 = ♾️ = 1 . The energy he sees in the most beautiful formula in the universe is Peace=Gratitude=Love. The many gifts of life, and the art depicted in the magnificent connection of life, is his gratitude for all of them.

 Gratitude for art that transcends time and circulates in the overlapping and synchronicity of love and harmony. The time when the self and the world are in dialogue between love and harmony, and while being guided by the world, the self is carving out a path for itself. The pure soul itself, which breaks through the illusory limitations of language and society, is built up when living in the present moment. For Nara, this is ART, where eternal time and space dwell. Through ART, which is created through his mind and the world, Nara weaves the only thing that a human being can record and express, namely “process,” in the colorful cycle of life.

 Akito Naraのアートジャーニーは2013年の終わり、アメリカのNew Yorkでの生活から始まった。

 無作為に構成した背景の中に光景や被写体を引き出し、自身にまつわる記憶や想像と織り交ぜながら描くことで、無意識と意識を繋げた表現に取り組む。あらゆる色彩や筆触そしてレイヤーは無秩序ながらも調和を成そうとし、純粋な衝動性や多面的な味わいを想起させつつ、理性という法則の側で波打つ感情やエネルギーという人間が本来持つ複雑なバランスを感じさせる。作風は、多様性と国際色の豊かなNew Yorkに溢れていた自由で色鮮やかな空氣や、独創的で反骨的なストリートのパンク・シーンからも影響を受けており、型にはめた構想や戦略的な創作にはこだわらない。無から始まり、創作の中で偶然生まれる過程そのものをArtの本質として重視しており、人生のプロセスによって変化していく自己をそこに投影させる。瞬間瞬間で自然に出てくるものや描きたい欲求に従い、"個"という息吹を乗せるためフィジカルな製作の中で、愛を込める。

 Naraは25歳の時に、言語化できない感覚のアウトプットができる唯一の場所として絵を描き始めた。幼少期は絵画に触れる環境で育ち母の好きなロック・ミュージックやSF映画に感化され、芸術や外国そして宇宙といった未知なる空間に魅了されていた。父の故郷では雄大な自然やアイヌの歴史に触れ、祖父と関わりのある寺院などの神聖な領域からも、物質的な個を超えた存在たちとの繋がりに対する関心を持っていた。学生時代はアートの道を選択できず、工学やデザインを専攻していたが、その頃に培ったロジカルシンキングや色彩感覚は後に自身が放つ世界観やクリエイションへの大きな役割を担っている。彼独自の感覚的直感と論理的直観の二軸は、世界を観察する深い眼差しと創作に用いる美意識の基盤となった。NaraにとってArtは生の光、魂のゆりかごの様な存在である。その真理への旅は、彼の人生の体験や内観と共に拡がる彼自身の宇宙(Heart)と観える世界(Earth)とで重なり合ってゆく。それらは作品の色遣いや構成の中で大胆かつ繊細に揺れ動き深く燃え、対面する鑑賞者が様々な想像という時空を眺める窓となるだろう。

 この旅路で出逢う景色やドラマ、芽生える感情や芸術的思想は勿論、Naraが観てきた芸術家、西洋と東洋、量子宇宙論、哲学、神話、宗教学、小説、カウンターカルチャーなど、あらゆる観点が彼のインスピレーションと関わっている。Naraの宇宙観として、無意識(0)が持つ非意図的なミクロ領域と意識(1)が持つ意図的なマクロ領域との間には、宇宙空間に意識を委ねるような大いなるサイクル(♾️)が生じている。無意識と意識を包括した第三の場所で描く彼の製作には、自我の制限を超える創造性と自分の中に眠る宇宙への探究心が揺蕩う。0=♾️=1 。宇宙一美しいと言われる数式に彼が観るエネルギーは、Peace=Gratitude=Love 。人生に贈られる数々のギフト、そして命という雄大な繋がりの中で描かれるArtは、彼にとってその全てへの感謝であった。

 "愛と調和の重ね合わせと共時性の中で時を越え循環してゆくArtへの感謝"。愛と調和の狭間で自己と世界とを対話させ、導かれながらも自ら道のりを切り拓いてゆく時間。そんな今を生きた時に積み上がってゆく、言葉や社会という幻想を型破る純粋な魂そのもの。それがNaraにとってのARTであり、そこには永遠の時空が宿る。彼の心と世界を介して生まれるARTを通じて、人間たる存在が唯一記録し表現していけるものすなわち「プロセス」を、生命という色彩の循環の中で紡いでゆく。

Biography

2010年 東京都市大学工学部 宇宙システム研究室 卒業           2010 Graduated from Tokyo City University, Faculty of Engineering, Space Systems Laboratory

2012年 東京デザイン専門学校 空間デザイン科 卒業            2012 Graduated from Tokyo Design College, Department of Space Design

2012年 横浜から単身アメリカのニューヨークへ渡る             2012 Moved alone from Yokohama to New York, U.S.A.

2014年 ブルックリンを拠点に独学による絵画の製作を始める         2014 Started self-taught painting based in Brooklyn

2017年 初出展そして作品の販売をスタート                 2017 First exhibition and sales of works started

2020年 ニューヨークのギャラリー街チェルシーで個展を開催         2020 Solo exhibition at Chelsea in New York's gallery district

2020年 アメリカを離れ日本と自己探求のため帰国              2020 Leaves the U.S. to return to Japan and self-exploration

2022年 東京に拠点を移し創作活動を開始                  2022 Moves to Tokyo and begins creative activities