Rakuko Naito

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Rakuko Naito
Born	1937 (age 87–88) Tokyo, Japan
🏳️ Nationality	Japanese
💼 Occupation

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Rakuko Naito (born 1937 ) is a Japanese contemporary artist. After graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts, Rakuko Naito moved to New York with her husband (Tadaaki Kuwayama) in 1958, and started promoting her artistic activities based in New York. Naito experienced and participated in the important art movements that emerged in 1960s, including Optical Art and Minimal Art., and created a series of Optical works in the 1960s. During the 1970s and 1980s, she made her Flowers series, which led to her famous Minimalist Paper series she made in the late 1990s.Throughout her career, Rakuko Naito has explored different avenues of abstraction on her own terms, privileging poetic decisions over art historical labels, including Op art, hard-edge painting, minimalism, and geometric abstraction. In Europe and America, she is recognized as one of the rare artists who keep such spirit alive in the present day. Over the last 50 years, she has been considered as closely associated with important contemporary art movements like Op Art and Minimalism.

Early life and education

Naito is a graduate of the prestigious Tokyo National University of Art, where she studied nihonga, a traditional Japanese painting style in contrast to yōga, Western-style oil painting. Nihonga entails the use of water-based mineral pigments mixed with deerskin or animal glue applied to paper, silk, or wood; which has rigid technical rules. After training with nihonga, Naito is able to introduce new formats and themes while maintaining a predetermined subject.

1960s : the big shift

Naito moved to New York City in 1958, where she began to distance herself from the constraints of her traditional education—she attended the Arts Students League after the rave of Abstract, Expressionism In the early 1960s and witnessed the emergence of Pop Art and Post-Painterly Abstraction. During the early to mid-1960s, introduced by American abstract artist, Sam Francis, Naito started to create optical art and experimented with spray paint, masking tape and acrylic paint, which was a new “American material” at the time. Naito created works that emphasized flatness and downplayed the artist’s hand. She began to use it on canvas while questioning flatness: “Japanese art is flat, so my main concern was to challenge flatness.”She worked on a series of monochromatic paintings on which she outlined geometric shapes resulting in spatial demarcations and, in another series of the same period, created variations of geometric regularity to produce vibrations through the moiré effect. These works manifest her desire to break with, or at least to defy, the sensation of flatness.By the mid-1960s when Optical (Op) art became popular with artists, Naito continued her experimental practices leading her to simple forms, flat monochromatic colors, and simplelines.

1970s

In the 1970s, Naito’s practise moved away from abstract painting to representational works, often large scale, of nature and mostly of flowers. In defiance of the wave of conceptualism in New York, a tendency that privileged the dematerialization of the art object in favor of an idea, she worked on her own terms and chose subjects she favored to contemplate.

Her practice evolved through the 1970s and 1980s with the creation of her Flowers series, leading into her renowned Minimalist Paper series, which she started in the late 1990s.

1990s

Naito abandoned her painting approach in the early 1990s and began to experiment with photography, collage, and sculptural pieces. During that period, Naito was focusing on a series of black and white photo-collages with dye tint that depicted floral motifs, stones, water, wood, and sky close-ups in the form of diptychs. Concurrently she began to produce sculptural mesh cages, resonant of the geometric shapes of her paintings created in the 1960s. Within these cages are paper-made structures that counterbalance the rigidity of the metal, infusing her unique sense of tension of space and material, lightness and weight.

To explore texture and materiality, Naito has experimented with incorporating elements such as sand, nails, and wire into geometric, colourless pieces. Naito's work is distinguished by a focused repetition of actions, decisions, and form manipulation, as opposed to narrative. Her interest in geometry has continued into her works with paper: reflecting her interest in the natural forms and textures of the material that creates a reality which she views as transcending the limits of painting and drawing. As she described, “I try to experiment and manipulate materials to create my own world. . . . My concern is purely art and visual stimulation.”

Naito has devoted her artistic work for the past three decades to investigating the malleability and strength of kozo and mino washi, traditional Japanese papers, which materialise as an ongoing sequence of organic compositions that she splits, folds, burns, or rolls inside a tiny box.The fibers that make up these types of papers are very strong, and their use can be traced back to the Nara period in 8th century Japan. Naito harmonizes traditional materials with a highly tactile and modern approach to sculpture. As a result of her methodology, Naito’s work reaches somewhere between our notion of “drawing” and “sculpture.” The artist's “paper reliefs” seem clear and precise, yet possess a subtle feature of disarray to their patterns, resulting in a commotion to an otherwise systematically serial composition. These works reflect her interest in geometry, architecture and the natural forms and textures of the material creating a reality which she views as transcending the limits of painting and drawing

Artwork and recognition

Naito’s Paper series is quintessentially Japanese, utilizing kozo washi, a delicate paper, alongside other natural materials such as wood and cotton. Meticulously arranging her materials within a shallow box, she creates a geometric vision, presenting the solemn existence of the pure and a clear sense of traditional Japanese beauty.

The delicacy of the paper, and the burned, frayed edges thrusting forward, evoke a state of steadfast determination — repeated actions that are never the same, inescapable damage, strength, adaptability, and vulnerability. Yet even as it evokes all these conditions and states, the work is remarkably restrained. There is something both material and immaterial about Naito’s paper work. It is an abstract chronicle of living and time, as well as a rejection of materiality and material excess. This is a kind of art the American art world has never really recognized, perhaps because of its implicit critique of our love of things.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

• 2021 Rakuko Naito, Shoshana Wayne, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• 2020 Kuwayama Naito, Christie’s NYC, New York, NY, USA
• 2019 Adrian Rosenfeld, San Francisco, CA. USA. (with Tadaaki Kuwayama)
• 2019 Whitestone Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
• 2018 Borzo Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland. (with Tadaaki Kuwayama)
• 2018 Hill Gallery, Birmingham, MI. USA. (with Tadaaki Kuwayama)
• 2017 Tayloe Piggott Gallery, “Tearing Rolling Folding,” Jackson, WY. USA.
• 2017 Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York City, NY. USA. (with Tadaaki Kuwayama)
• 2016 Karuizawa New Art Museum. Karuizawa, Japan.
• 2016 Whitestone Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
• 2013 Weber Fine Art. Greenwich, CT
• 2012 Tayloe Piggott Gallery, “Nature Constructed,” Jackson, WY. USA. (curated by Michael Klein)
• 2009 Noma Gallery, “Thoughts in Circles & Squares,” San Francisco, CA. USA.
• 2009 Maiden Lane Exhibition Space, “Permutation-Variant-Structure,” New York City, NY. USA. (curated by

Elisabeth Akkerman)

• 2007 Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany.
• 2004 Denise Cade Gallery, “Art Paris,” Paris, France.
• 2003 Tamada Project, Tokyo, Japan.
• 2003 Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany.
• 2001 Denise Cade Gallery, “Works of and with, but not on, Paper” New York City, NY. USA.
• 1992 Sakura Gallery, Nagoya, Japan.
• 1982 Gimpel+Hanover & Andre Emmerich Galerien, Zurich, Germany.
• 1981 Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan.1978Charleston Art Museum of Sunrise, West Virginia.
• 1972 Henri Gallery, Washington D.C., USA
• 1965 North Truro Art Gallery, Massachusetts, USA.
• 1965 World House Gallery, New York City, NY. USA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

• 2019 Mies-Van-der-Rohe Haus, “White Box,” Berlin, Germany.2018Adelson Galleries, “Repsychling” Boston,

MA. USA.

• 2018 Barbara Mathes Gallery, “Master Drawings: Post-War & Contemporary” New York City, NY. USA.
• 2017 Barbara Mathes Gallery, “Gallery selection,” New York City, NY. USA.
• 2017 David Richard Gallery, “Sizzle and Chill: Rakuko Naito and Tadaaki Kuwayama Paintings from the

1960s.” Santa Fe, New Mexico.

• 2017 Whitestone Gallery, “I love Taiwan” (Grand Opening), Taipei, Taiwan.
• 2017 Blum & Poe Gallery, “Systemic Paper” Tokyo. Japan (with Kwon Young-Woo & Dorothea Rockburne)
• 2017 Barbara Mathes Gallery, “Tadaaki Kuwayama / Rakuko Naito,” New York City, NY. USA
• 2016 Galerie Renate Bender, “Kinder, wie die Zeit vergeht!,” Munich, Germany.
• 2015 Galerie Renate Bender, “Work On & With Paper,” Munich, Germany
• 2015 Hill Gallery, “Some Assemble Required,” Birmingham, MI. USA.
• 2015 David Richard Gallery. “OP Infinitum: American Op Art in the 60’s,” Santa Fe, NM. USA.
• 2015 Macy Gallery, “Repsychling,” Columbia University, New York City, NY. USA.
• 2015 Ressle/Chun at Waterfall Mansion. New York City, NY. USA.
• 2015 Barbara Mathes Gallery, “Master Drawings New York,” New York City, NY. USA.
• 2014 Museo D’arte Contemporanea. “Prossimamente: Global Exchange Astrazione Geometrica del 1950,”

Rome, Italy.

• 2013 Hill Gallery. Birmingham, MI. USA.
• 2013 Tayloe Piggott Gallery, “Inter Weaving,” Jackson, WY. USA.
• 2013 Gebert Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM. USA.
• 2013 Galerie Renate Bender, “Papierwelten II,” Munich, Germany
• 2012 QuadrART, “Paper and More” Dornbirn, Austria. (curated by Renate Bender)
• 2011 The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Art Gallery, “Breathing,” New York City, NY. USA. (curated by Soojung

Hyun)

• 2010 David Richard Gallery, “1960s Revisited,” Santa Fe, NM. USA.
• 2010 Madron Gallery, “The Responsive Mind,” Chicago, IL. USA.
• 2009 International Women Artistsʼ Biennale, Incheon, Korea.
• 2008-9 Bjorn Ressle Gallery, “The Winter Salon – Works on Paper” New York City, NY. USA.
• 2008 Gary Snyder Project Space, “New American Abstraction 1960-ʻ75,” New York City, NY. USA.
• 2007 Pratt Institute Gallery, “Optical Edge” New York City, NY. USA. (curated by Robert C. Morgan)
• 2007 Columbus Museum of Art, “Optic Nerve: Perceptual Art of the 1960s,” Columbus, OH. USA. (curated

by Joe Houston)

• 2007 Galerie Renate Bender, “Papierwelten,” Munich, Germany.
• 2006 2X13 Gallery, “Honest Echo,” New York City, NY. USA. (curated by J. Grace Rim)
• 2005 Tenri Foundation, “Horsefeathers Etc..” New York City, NY. USA. (curated by Thalia Vrachopoulos)
• 2005 Neuen Kunstvereins, “Papier=Kunst 5,” Aschaffenburg, Germany.
• 2005 The Lab Gallery at Roger Smith, “Neutral,” New York City, NY. USA. (curated by Robert C. Morgan)
• 2004 Museo Nacional Centre De Arte Reina Sofia, “Monocromos, Variaciones Sobre El Tema,” Madrid, Spain.

(curated by Barbara Rose)

• 2004 The Gibson Gallery at SUNY Potsdam, “Resounding Spirit,” Potsdam, NY. USA.
• 2002 Chelsea Art Museum, “Samadhi,” New York City, NY. USA. (curated by Robert C. Morgan)
• 2002 Denise Cade Gallery, “20 Years Anniversary Show,” New York City, NY. USA.
• 2000 Salena Gallery at Long Island University, “Perceptions: Solitude Shared,” New York City, NY. USA.
• 1999 Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany.
• 1994 Sakura Gallery. Nagoya, Japan.
• 1993 Bergen Museum, “A Moment Becomes Eternity,” Hackensack, NJ. USA. (curated by Michael Walls)
• 1987 Olympia & York, Park Ave Atrium, “In the Natural World,” New York City, NY. USA.
• 1984 Robert Brown Contemporary Art, Washington D.C., USA
• 1980 Heritage Plantation, “An American Flower Show,” Sandwich, MA. USA. (curated by J. Frederic Cain)
• 1979 Nancy Roth Gallery, Katonah, NY. USA.
• 1974 Tokyo International Biennale, Tokyo, Japan.
• 1966 Wadsworth Athenaeum, “Black & White,” Hartford, CT. USA.
• 1965 Tokyo Gallery, “Five Painters,” Tokyo, Japan.
• 1964 The Contemporary Art Center, “Mortion & Movement,” Cincinnati, OH. USA.
• 1964 Purdue University, Lafayette, IN. USA.
• 1964 The Larry Aldrich Museum, “Old Hundred” (Opening Exhibition), Ridgefield, CT. USA.
• 1964 Southampton Art Gallery East, New York City, NY. USA.
• 1962 Jerald Morris International Gallery, Toronto, Canada.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS: The Larry Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT, USA.Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, FL. USA. Kemper Art Collection, Chicago, IL. USA. Roland Gibson Art Foundation, SUNY Potsdam, Potsdam, NY. USA.Wellesley College Davis Museum, Wellesley, MA. USA.Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Buenos Aires. Argentina. Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, CT. USA. Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. USA. Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, Netherlands. Sammlung Brühe, Cologne, Germany. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA. USA.Francis Greenburger Collection, New York City, USA.

References

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