Nakahata’s art-making is anchored by color. To Nakahata, “air” denotes that the shapes and colors of his art come to him as naturally as if they simply float in the air around him. He likens colors and shapes to nature, creating modern interpretations of ecology while bringing classic Japanese colors and patterns to contemporary art and design.
Shinichi Nakahata was born in 1961 in Japan. He is an artist and a designer of products, interiors, and store displays. He began studying painting at the age of 15 under a prominent painter, Susmu Fukuyama, founder of the Keisho Art Association in Japan. Nakahata learned classic and modern techniques of oil, watercolor, and tempera painting from Fukuyama, and in 1981, began working for a furniture manufacturer. In 1986, he became an interior and product designer; his furniture is sold in Japan and online. It is also featured in television sets and commercials.
Nakahata continues to incorporate aspects of industrial design into his fine art. He has exhibited his works at venues including the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the VITA exhibition in Rome, and at venues in the United States and South Korea.
Through an understanding that form and function, pigments of color and air, and tradition and modernity intersect, Shinichi Nakahata continues to expose the delightful confluence of these neighboring concepts.