Nanako Kawaguchi
"Hide and Seek" Solo Exhibition
28 (Tue) October - 16 (Sun) November, 2025
11:00 -18:00, Monday closed
In Nanako Kawaguchi’s paintings, the figure of the girl emerges not as a solitary subject but as a shifting presence that overlaps with the forest itself. Flowers and trees sprout from her face, her body merges with the landscape, and in this act of mimicry she becomes both human and nature. The image holds within it the playful structures of “hide and seek” and “camouflage,” where concealment and revelation intertwine.
Kawaguchi’s practice often begins with tracing paper layered with drawn motifs - ribbons, foliage, fragments of natural forms - that are overlapped, melted, and recombined. Through careful manipulation of transparency, color, and shape, she creates two-dimensional works that blur boundaries and invite the eye into zones of crossing and transformation. Faces may contain ribbons or wood, trees may sprout from bodies, and the surface itself becomes an ambiguous field between image and apparition.
From early works such as Hair River 2 (2017) to paradise tree (2021), her compositions explore a delicate balance between clarity and dissolution. The forest is never a mere background; it functions as an active device, erasing distinctions between human and environment, reality and dream. In these paintings, what seems hidden always peers out again—an invitation to glimpse the fragile play of presence that hovers between worlds.
Featured Works
Exhibition View
Nanako Kawaguchi
Born in Japan
Education
2002 BFA in Oil Painting, Kyoto City University of Arts
2003 Exchange program in Communication Art and Design, Royal College of Art, London
2005 MFA in Oil Painting, Kyoto City University of Arts Graduate School
2012 Entered MA Fine Art program, Middlesex University, London
2013 Completed MA Fine Art, Middlesex University, London
Residencies and Projects
2014–2022 Studio Artist, KOBE STUDIO Y3
2016 Participated in See Saw Seeds project, artist residency in Turku, Finland
2019 Participated in See Saw Seeds project, artist residency in Bremen, Germany
Solo Exhibitions
2025 It’s a Secret Where I’m Going – studio J, Osaka
2021 Tsurezure Drawing – ARTE CASA, Nagoya Mitsukoshi Sakae (Aichi)
prev / next – KOBE STUDIO Y3 (Hyogo)
2020 Drawing Mania – studio J (Osaka)
2018 Agata’s Skirt – studio J (Osaka)
Nanako Kawaguchi Exhibition – O Gallery eyes (Osaka)
2017 inner forest – KOBE STUDIO Y3 (Hyogo)
2009 The Seven Dwarfs Haven’t Come Yet – Yuka Sasahara Gallery (Tokyo)
2007 Melting Point – Yuka Sasahara Gallery (Tokyo)
2006 Flow Painting – INAX Gallery 2 (Tokyo)
2005 Nanako Kawaguchi Exhibition – O Gallery eyes (Osaka)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Hommage Takarazuka – Spring Primavera – Takarazuka Arts Center (Hyogo)
2022 That Might Be Me – Azumagaoka Articulation (Kanagawa)
Infectious World – Gallery G-77 (Kyoto)
2021 Art Fair The Terminal – The Terminal Kyoto (Kyoto)
2019 To the Little Prince – KOBE STUDIO Y3 (Osaka)
enjoy misunderstanding – Gallery Herold (Bremen, Germany)
2018 reJuvenation – studio J (Osaka)
2016 NEGA/POSI – B Gallery (Turku, Finland)
2014 12 Windows – KOBE STUDIO Y3 (Hyogo)
2013 Jerwood Drawing Prize – shortlisted, Jerwood Visual Arts (London)
2011 Arts Challenge 2011 – Aichi Arts Center (Aichi)
2010 FLATLAND – The Power of Painting – Gallery @KCUA (Kyoto)
2008 VOCA Exhibition 2008 – The Ueno Royal Museum (Tokyo)
2007 Heyri Asian Young Artist Project – Heyri Art Village (Korea)
2005 1st Kurashiki Contemporary Art Biennale – West Japan – Kurashiki City Art Museum (Okayama)
Awards
Mayor’s Award, Kyoto City University of Arts Graduation Exhibition
Grand Prize, 1st Kurashiki Contemporary Art Biennale
20th Holbein Scholarship
Public Collections
Middlesex University (UK)
Kyoto City University of Arts (Japan)
Kurashiki Cultural Promotion Foundation (Japan)