You can view the complete series of Richter’s Photo Paintings here.
The Artsy Vanguard 2023: Shota Nakamura
Shota Nakamura thinks a lot about gardens, and people in them. “I couldn’t really tell why, but nature is always coming up in my paintings,” he said, during a recent tour of his Berlin studio. The bright space was dotted with canvases featuring these gardens—some flaming pink and orange, others a murky mix of blues and browns, mostly unfinished, the artist explained.
Nakamura’s recent shows at Berlin’s Peres Projects have each presented series of paintings depicting the outdoors, sometimes within a dreamlike, mystical haze, and populated by anonymized figures sleeping, meditating, or reading. In particular, “each passing day,” his second show with the gallery, which took place in 2022, showed portal-like paintings that open up calm, patchwork landscapes, populated by figures at rest. In July, C L E A R I N G announced it would begin representing Nakamura, and his first solo show with the gallery is planned for early 2024 in Los Angeles.
Portrait of Shota Nakamura in his studio. Photo by Daniel Farò. Courtesy of Shota Nakamura.
Shota Nakamura, night drawing, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
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In Nakamura’s studio, a huge table was piled with scraps of paper: printouts of reference works, art books, and his own photographs, all materials for the new show. This table, he explained, tells the story of how he works: “I develop my practice by doing research on imagery—paintings, films, any kind of two-dimensional images. Based on those, I can imagine how I want to develop [the works] from that.” Mixed in with these references were preparatory paintings, small canvases that retain the artist’s earthy, muted shades in a contrasting and thoughtful palette.
Nakamura selects elements of these paintings that resonate with his mood and curiosity, which he wants to expand into a larger painting. “I like that touch, for example,” he said, pointing to a particular spot on one of his small, brightly colored canvases. “Line-making, color testing, it’s just intuitive working,” he said. This experimentation, always with paint but applied in different textures (thin washes in some places, thick daubs elsewhere) is his core practice, he explained. “It’s almost like collecting the images, encountering the images…it’s more joyful,” he said.
Shota Nakamura, Untitled (the garden), 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
Portrait of Shota Nakamura in his studio. Photo by Daniel Farò. Courtesy of Shota Nakamura.
Nakamura pulled another image, this one by French painter Suzanne Valadon. It shows a person bathing, alone in a garden, a house behind her; the wild and abundantly green garden flourishes in every corner. One of Nakamura’s preparatory canvases in progress nearby took the same composition: house, person, garden, all from the same viewpoint. “You look at her and try to engage with her, but you don’t know what she’s thinking,” he said. “I like that aspect, that she’s so absorbed in the space, that’s exactly how I feel when I’m in nature.”
Perhaps it’s unsurprising that Nakamura would take such inspiration from the natural world: He grew up in the mountainous splendor of the Yamanishi prefecture, close to Mount Fuji in Japan. While studying at Musashino Art University, the artist realized that his favorite contemporary Japanese artists—most notably Yoshitomo Nara and Hiroshi Sugito—had spent time in Germany. After he graduated, in 2012, he decided to follow in their footsteps, ultimately settling in Berlin.
Photo by Daniel Farò. Courtesy of Shota Nakamura.
Shota Nakamura, walking, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
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Though he lives in a city, Nakamura stays close to nature, going on daily walks through the green spaces of Berlin, sometimes taking photos for inspiration. “I go to the park every day, and try to channel my moods, to really have a dialogue with myself,” he said. “I’m really interested in the state of the mind that’s very quiet, when you try to create a very personal connection with nature. It’s a meditative process.”
Though he followed the career of these Japanese painters, Nakamura’s constant touchpoints for his practice are French and European modernists—Picasso and Matisse in particular, as well as Les Nabis. On his desk is a thick tome on Pierre Bonnard, one of the best-known artists from this early 20th-century group and a clear reference point for Nakamura’s paintings, both in subject matter (domestic interiors and gardens) and style.
Shota Nakamura
SUMMER TABLE, 2023
C L E A R I N G
Price on request
Bonnard often focused on domestic scenes that spill into the garden in his paintings—a frequent subject for Nakamura, too. For example, in SUMMER TABLE (2023), the artist creates an expansive, verdant background for a group of diners around a table, each lost in their own thoughts. In the foreground, vines poke up in front of their clouded faces—a sign, perhaps, of nature forcing its presence in the social world of human thought.
“I’m always interested in the in-between space, in a way: interior and exterior, indoor and outdoor, the domestic and outside,” he said. For him, the interior represents the world inside his mind; his paintings of these liminal moments represent an attempt to peer out into what’s outside his own mental world. “My mind is like a room; trying to get out of the room, you are looking outside, through the window,” he said.
Shota Nakamura, Goldfish bowl on the table, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
In Nakamura’s world of painting, the canvas becomes a metaphorical space where domestic objects become charged with meaning. “A table is also a metaphor for painting, where you can create your own space,” the artist pointed out. “And around the table are people, who are not actually the main subject.” This attitude towards portraying people is crucial for Nakamura, who has an ambivalent approach to his human subjects. “I always had a problem with painting people. I felt like they were taking over the entire painting, and I didn’t know how to deal with that,” he said. It was only when he started portraying people sleeping, or reading, that he became more comfortable with the denizens of his nature-inspired painting. “I find that this is okay, because the body is present, but the mind is somewhere else.”
For Nakamura, these muted paintings are personal representations of a psychological state, the feeling of stillness in nature, which he hopes to replicate by the act of painting itself. He points to another of his unfinished paintings hanging on the wall, which has a different reference image sellotaped next to it: a Chinese ink painting, a multitude of brushstrokes, crosshatched into a mountainous landscape. It’s this restful focus that Nakamura is both portraying and enacting: “When I’m touching the painting, I have a meditative connection with it,” he said.
The Artsy Vanguard 2023
The Artsy Vanguard is our annual feature recognizing the most promising artists working today. The sixth edition of The Artsy Vanguard features 10 rising talents from across the globe who are poised to become the next great leaders of contemporary art. Explore more of The Artsy Vanguard 2023 and browse works by the artists.
Josie Thaddeus-Johns
Josie Thaddeus-Johns is an Editor at Artsy.
Header: Shota Nakamura, from left to right: “Goldfish bowl on the table,” 2022; “Untitled (green room),” 2023; “calm night,” 2022. All courtesy of the artist.
Project: Photo Oil Painting Using Selective Focus in the Style of Gerhard Richter
Skills Exercised: Imprimatura, Wipeout Method of Underpainting, Painting Wet on Wet, Painting in Value Gradations, Dry Brush, Impasto
In this class, we use water mixable oil paints and mediums. Not only are they better for the environment (water is used as a solvent), they’re also much better for our health in a crowded classroom (less toxic fumes).
My painter’s box includes the following Winsor & Newton Water Mixable Oil Colours, as suggested by my painting teacher. Other brands may work just as well, but I haven’t tried them myself. All additional colors are either mixed on the palette or created through glazing onto the painting.
- Yellow Ochre
- Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue
- Burnt Umber
- Burnt Sienna
- Permanent Alizarin Crimson
- Cadmium Red Hue
- Cerulean Blue
- French Ultramarine
- Viridian
- Titanium White
Part One: Imprimatura and Drawing
We begin by spreading a thinned yellow ochre wash over the entire painting surface. This is known as imprimatura. It helps to break up the white of the canvas, to establish a mid-tone ground, and to help mitigate the yellowing that occurs during the aging of an oil painting. Since in this class, we use water mixable oil paints, we thin the paint by mixing it with water. If you’re using normal oil paints, you would thin with turpentine or odorless mineral spirits.
For more information and guidelines about imprimatura, click here.
Set up your source image next to your canvas. Mine was this close-up of a sculpture that I found on Flickr. I’m no longer able to find it in order to give proper attribution, but if you do have any information, please let me know. It’s a beautiful photo, and a work of art in its own right.
With a charcoal pencil, lightly block in your subject on your yellow ochre background. Begin with broader shapes, then progress on to the finer details. Mistakes can be erased using a dry rag.
Once you’re comfortable with your drawing, leave the painting to dry overnight.
Part Two: Wipeout Underpainting
Now you’re ready to create a 3-tone wipeout underpainting, using your photograph as a guide.
Begin by squeezing some ultramarine blue oil paint onto your palette
and thinning it with just a few drops of water. Again, in this class, we use water mixable oil paints, and we thin the paint by mixing it with water. If you’re using traditional oil paints, you would thin with turpentine or odorless mineral spirits.
Lightly paint in the dark areas. Load only a small amount of paint on your brush, and wait until there’s none left before reloading. You want to keep this layer as thin as possible. Remember to paint in the dark areas of the background as well as in the figure.
Next, use a clean rag dipped in water (if you’re using water mixable paints) or turpentine/odorless mineral spirits (if you’re using traditional oil paints) to wipe out the lights. Remember to wipe out the light areas of your background as well as in the figure.
I didn’t capture my painting at this stage, but here’s a good example from another project.
Since you’ve used the midtone yellow ochre as a base layer, you now have an underpainting with the three major tonal areas defined. It may not be too pretty, but this is actually an excellent starting point that will guide you through the rest of the painting process. Give yourself and your painting a rest, and allow it to dry overnight.
What is a Mahl Stick?
A mahl stick is a stick or thin pole that is about 1 meter (3 feet) in length with a ball-shaped pad at one end. It is used as an aid in painting, particularly in oil painting because it takes so long to dry.
The mahl stick has two primary purposes:
- To steady your hand while painting. Holding your arm away from a surface while painting can cause your arm to tire. This may cause your hand to shake and the mahl stick helps alleviate the problem.
- To give you a support to rest your hand on. Many people have a tendency to rest their hand on a piece of paper while drawing. When painting, this is not a good idea because you are working with wet paint and, often, a soft canvas with no support behind it.
You will find that a mahl stick is useful when painting details and a steady hand is absolutely crucial. It is also handy when painting near wet paint that you want to avoid touching accidentally.
How to Use a Mahl Stick
There really is no magic trick to using a mahl stick: it is a support held in front of the canvas to use as a hand rest while painting. However, it does takes some time to get used to and you will want to know a few tips before starting.
- Rest the ball-end of the mahl stick on the edge of the canvas, on the easel, or on a spot of the painting that you’re sure is dry.
- Hold the other end with your non-painting hand and steady your arm that is holding the brush on the stick while you paint.
If you rest the mahl stick on the little finger and forearm of your non-painting arm, you can use the other fingers of that hand to hold your palette and extra brushes. It takes a bit of practice but is possible and very efficient.
Buy vs. DIY: Your Options for a Mahl Stick
A mahl stick is a very simple device and you can choose to buy one from an art store or make it yourself. It is a matter of personal preference and whether or not you already have a suitable stick available. If you consider purchasing one, it should cost less than $30.
To make a mahl stick, you will need a piece of bamboo, a dowel, or a similar round stick:
- Simply tie a small piece of folded cloth to one end of the stick with a piece of string or an elastic band.
- Ideally, you want to choose a cloth that won’t slip or scratch the canvas; a piece of chamois leather is ideal.
- A round stick is better than a square one. With a square stick, you will find yourself turning it often so your arm is not resting on a pointy edge.
Other DIY options for a mahl stick include a walking stick (hook the handle over the edge of a canvas) or an old golf club. It doesn’t have to be a thing of beauty, just stiff and not too heavy.
If you do not have a stick available, you can even use your arm for support.
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