Spectrum of Vivid Moments
Solo Exhibition by Manika Nagare
The Tokyo-based abstract painter, Manika Nagere, returns to Asia Week New York along with her powerful abstract paintings with an ongoing theme of light/color observed in her daily life. Juxtaposed with these are her new works inspired by Japanese female artists of the last century.
Nagare works only in natural light, allowing her to delineate subtle colors that are otherwise difficult to discern. She believes this strong union of (natural) light and color extends to the universe, which unfolds in an infinite spectrum of light. In her series, In Between, Nagare explores the life-to-death spectrum, the spiritual transition/boundary between life and death that is metaphorically compared to water/river in Japanese culture. Her work explores the ambiguity of the two separations and seeks to bridge them in that remembering the vivid moments of the deceased enables us to feel that person’s return to the side of life.
As light reveals subtle colors, Nagare's efforts as a painter of light/color illuminate historically little-known Japanese female artists of the last century. In Japan, the work of these artists was often acquired by institutions only because they were the spouse of a famous male artist. Since 2020, Nagare has found nine works in multiple Japanese museums, traced the colors used by the artist in each piece, and layered them one by one onto a new canvas. In this exhibition, all nine works from Track of Color are the same height, arranged linearly and forming a kind of color code, presenting the viewer with the vanishing footprints of female artists neglected in official art history.
For more information, please visit https://miyakoyoshinaga.com/exhibitions/23-manika-nagare-spectrum-of-vivid-moments/overview/
Contact Us
