(日本語) edible garden・2010・oil on canvas・230.0×390.0cm2025.9.26-11.1
Gallery Yamaki Fine Art is pleased to present the solo exhibition Asuka Nakayama, the artist’s sixth solo show at the gallery. The exhibition brings together a diverse selection of works ranging from large-scale dynamic paintings produced during her student years to more recent, introspective small-scale pieces created while raising children. This comprehensive survey traces Nakayama’s evolving creative journey as both an artist and a mother.
Nakayama has long explored the complex and often contradictory relationship between human beings and nature—a dynamic that involves both coexistence and control. In recent years, this theme has found renewed resonance in her personal experience of motherhood, where the act of living with and caring for another person often reveals the same tensions between guidance and surrender. These layered perspectives are reflected in her brushwork and imagery, blending fantastical landscapes with intimate, real-life sensibilities.
This exhibition also foregrounds a body of works that originate from fleeting doubts and subtle dissonances encountered in Nakayama’s daily life. Rendered with a candid yet surreal sensibilities, these pieces probe the latent ambiguities and absurdities embedded within mundane gestures and quotidian scenes. By infusing humor and a nuanced visual lexicon into her imagery, Nakayama activates the viewer’s imaginative engagement and gently destabilizes the perception of reality.
Nakayama’s distinctive approach has earned her continued recognition over the years. She received the digmeout Prize at via art OSAKA 2008, the Mayor’s Prize at the Kyoto City University of Arts Graduation Exhibition in 2010, the Kyoto Shimbun Prize at the Kyoto Emerging Artists Exhibition in 2021, and most recently, the prestigious Akaso-sha Prize in memory of Fumiko Kametaka in 2024.
By presenting works from across her career, this exhibition offers a unique opportunity to explore the themes that have shaped Nakayama’s practice—along with the quiet yet profound transformations that have emerged from her personal milestones. We warmly invite you to experience the poetic and thought-provoking world of Asuka Nakayama.
【Selected solo Exhibitions】
2011empirical garden, INAX Gallery 2, Tokyo
2011‘-florid table-‘, Gallery 16, Kyoto
2015‘Asuka NAKAYAMA –Niwasaki Kaiga 360°’, Okanoyama Museum of Art Nishiwaki, Hyogo
2016'Solo Show,' Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2017Art Fair Tokyo 2017 Gallery Yamaki Fine Art booth
2017'Solo Show,' Gallery 16, Kyoto
2017'Solo Show,' Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2017'Solo Show,' ELSA ART GALLERY, Taipei
2019'Solo Show,' Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2023'Solo Show,' Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
2024'Solo Show,' Gallery Yamaki Fine Art, Kobe
【Selected Group Exhibitions】
2008‘via art OSAKA 2008’, Breeze Tower 7F, Osaka
2008‘Three persons exhibition’, Gallery Scarborough, Kyoto
2009‘Art1Camp 2009’, Gallery Yamaguchi Kunstbau, Osaka
2010‘Kyoto City University of Arts Exhibition’, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
2010‘Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi 2010’, Gyoko Chika Gallery, Tokyo
2011‘2010 Mitsubishi Shoji Art Gate Program Scholarship Exhibition, Omote-sando GYRE, Tokyo
2016Elsa Art Gallery booth, Art Taipei 2016, Taipei
2016‘Tamba Sasayama Machinami Art Festival 2016’, Kawaramnachi, Tsumairi Shoukagun, Hyogo
2017Elsa Art Gallery booth, 2017 Young Art Taipei, Taipei
2017‘Renewal Open Exhibition’, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art Oji Branch Haradanomori Gallery, Hyogo
2018‘Tamba Sasayama Machinami Art Festival 2018’, Kawaramnachi, Tsumairi Shoukagun, Hyogo
2019'Taipei Dangdai Art &Ideas', Gallery Yamaki Fine Art booth, Taiwan
2019’Flower and Art’, Okanoyama Museum of Art Nishiwaki, Hyogo
2019’VOCA exhibition 2019 The Vision Contemporary Art’, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo
2021‘Kyoto Art For Tomorrow 2021’, The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto
2022'Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2022
2023”Summer night's dream" - Exhibition of female artists, emmy art+, Tokyo
2024”CADAN YURAKUCHO" Gallery Yamaki Fine Art Booth, Tokyo
2025“Study × PLAS: Asia Art Fair" Osaka
2025"Art Exhibition Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Korea-Japan Exchange” Hyogo
【Awards】
2008via art OSAKA 2008: Digmeout prize
2010Kyoto City University of Arts Exhibition: Kyoto Mayor's prize
2021’Kyoto Art for Tomorrow 2021’, Kyoto Shinbun Award
2024The Fumiko Kametaka Sekiso-sha for Award for Outstanding Female Painters
【Artist Information】
Asuka NAKAYAMA
SessionFri. Sep 26, 2025 - Sat. Nov 1, 2025 Closed on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays
Hours11:00－13:00 / 14:00－19:00
PlaceGallery Yamaki Fine Art
Venue3-9-5-2F Motomachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0022
ContactTEL: 078-391-1666 FAX : 078-391-1667 MAIL: info@gyfa.co.jp
AccessOne minute walk from Motomachi Station, West exit (JR/ Hanshin Line)
ChargeFree
