Nobuyuki TANAKA

KENJI TAKI GALLERY

Inner side – Outer side 2014, 2014

Biography

1959: Born in Tokyo, Japan.
1983: B.F.A. in Crafts, Tokyo University of the Arts.
1985: M.F.A. in Urushi (Lacquer) Art, Tokyo University of the Arts.
2003: The 14th Takashimaya Cultural Foundation Takashimaya Art Award.
2012: The 18th MOA Mokichi Okada Award, Grand Prize.
2021: The 1st Suzhou International Craft Triennale, Excellence Award.
Currently: Lives and works in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

1989: Gallery Yamaguchi, Tokyo
1992: Tokiwa Gallery, Tokyo
1999: Exhibition Space, Tokyo
2009: What Lacquer Evokes, Shimoyama Art Forest Power Station Museum, Nyuzen, Toyama
2010: The Tactile Memory, Nihombashi Art Gallery X, Tokyo
2011: Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York, USA
2014: Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo
2016: Nobuyuki Tanaka: Skin of Image, The Ueno Royal Museum Gallery, Tokyo
2017: Nobuyuki Tanaka’s Tea Room: Flowing Water, Touching Water, Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum (Hagi Uragami Museum), Hagi, Yamaguchi
2017: Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
2018: NOBUYUKI TANAKA – Urformen Primordial Memories –, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany
2019: NOBUYUKI TANAKA – Urformen Primordial Memories –, Museum für Lackkunst (Museum of Lacquer Art), Münster, Germany
2024: Surface Area – Where the Spirit Dwells, Kenji Taki Gallery Roppongi, Tokyo
2025: Tactile Life – Pitch Black, Breathing Light –, Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya

Selected Group Exhibitions

1994: Domain of Medium, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Crafts Gallery
1999: The Genealogy of Craft Objects, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Crafts Gallery
2001: Toyota Municipal Museum of Art Collection Exhibition: VISION, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi / Life/art ’01, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo (also participated in ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05)
2004: Modern Masters and Collection, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa
2005: Ars Nova: Between Contemporary Art and Crafts, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), Tokyo
2007: Roppongi Crossing 2007: Future Beats in Japanese Contemporary Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
2008: JAPAN! CULTURE + HYPER CULTURE, The Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., USA
2012: The 18th MOA Mokichi Okada Award: Prospects for Tomorrow’s Japanese Painting and Crafts, MOA Museum of Art, Shizuoka / Contemporary Coordinates: 11 Thoughts on Crafts, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Crafts Gallery
2013: Tatsuaki Kuroda and Nobuyuki Tanaka: The Power of Lacquer, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi / The Audacious Eye: Japanese Art from the Clark Collections, Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA
2015: Simple Forms: Contemplating Beauty, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
2017: Oku-Noto Triennale 2017, Suzu, Ishikawa / Hard Bodies: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer Sculpture, Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA
2018: Hangzhou International Contemporary Lacquer Art Exhibition, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China / 2018 Fuzhou International Lacquer Art Biennial, Fuzhou, China
2019: Images of Asia: Japanese Art’s Yearning for the Orient, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo / 15th Anniversary Exhibition Current Location: To Draw a Map of the Future, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
2021: Hokuriku Craft Festival GO FOR KOGEI, Natadera Temple, Komatsu, Ishikawa, etc. / Oku-Noto Triennale 2020+, Suzu, Ishikawa / The 1st Suzhou International Craft Biennale, Suzhou, China / Finale – Director’s Cut, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany
2022: Sunset / Sunrise, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
2023: Hubei International Lacquer Triennale, Wuhan, China / POKÉMON x KOGEI, National Crafts Museum, Kanazawa [Touring: JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles, USA (2023-2024); Sagawa Art Museum, Moriyama, Shiga (2024); MOA Museum of Art, Atami, Shizuoka (2024); Azabudai Hills Gallery, Tokyo (2024)] / Oku-Noto Triennale 2023, Suzu, Ishikawa / Lacquer Storm: Kyushitsu Expressions Running Through the Present, Wajima Museum of Urushi Art, Wajima, Ishikawa

Selected Public Collections

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi / 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa / Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum / The Japan Foundation / The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo / Mori Art Museum, Tokyo / Shiseido Art House / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA / Brooklyn Museum, USA / Gitter-Yelen Foundation, USA / Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA / Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UK / Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), UK / Grassi Museum, Germany / Hubei Museum of Art, China / Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA / Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany / Museum für Lackkunst, Münster, Germany / Flamingo Contemporary Art Museum, Vietnam