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
Nanako Kawaguchi
2002 Graduated from Kyoto University of Arts, BA in Painting
2003 Royal College of Art, London, Communication Art and Design Department, as an exchange student
2005 Graduated from Kyoto University of Arts, MFA
2013 Graduated from Middlesex University (London), MA Fine Art
[Selected Solo Exhibitions]
2025 Nanako Kawaguchi Exhibition 2025 Mokodi, Nagoya, Japan
2021 ARTE CASA Nagoya Mitsukoshi, Aichi, Japan
prev / next KOBE STUDIO Y3, Hyogo, Japan
2020 Drawing mania studio J, Osaka, Japan
2018 Agata’s skirt studio J, Osaka, Japan
Nanako Kawaguchi Exhibition O Gallery Eyes, Osaka, Japan
2017 inner forest KOBE STUDIO Y3, Hyogo, Japan
2009 The seven dwarfs haven’t come, yet Yuka Sasahara Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Melting point Yuka Sasahara Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2006 INAX Gallery 2, Tokyo, Japan
2005 O Gallery Eyes, Osaka, Japan
[Selected Group Exhibitions]
2023 Hommage Takarazuka — Primavera (オマージュ TAKARAZUKA ― 春 プリマヴェーラ) Takarazuka Arts Center, Hyogo, Japan
2022 That is, perhaps, me. (それは、たぶん、わたし。) Azumagaoka, Tokyo, Japan
2021 ART FAIR THE TERMINAL THE TERMINAL KYOTO, Kyoto, Japan
2020 Saimatsu Lun Lun Gallery Saihate, Hyogo, Japan
2019 Dear the little prince KOBE STUDIO Y3, Hyogo, Japan
Enjoy misunderstanding Gallery Herold, Bremen, Germany
2017 Yo-chan Biennale ORIE ART Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016 Yo-chan Biennale Collage Cubism KOBE STUDIO Y3, Hyogo, Japan
NEGA/POSI B Gallery, Turku, Finland
2015 12 windows KOBE STUDIO Y3, Hyogo, Japan
2013 Jerwood Drawing Prize Jerwood Visual Arts, London, UK
2011 Yo-chan Biennale Nakanoshima Design Museum, Osaka, Japan
ARTS CHALLENGE 2011 Aichi Arts Center, Aichi, Japan
2010 FLATLAND Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery @KCUA 1,2, Kyoto, Japan
2009 La musique de l’atelier OZC GALLERY + CAFE, Osaka, Japan
2008 VOCA ― The Vision of Contemporary Art 2008 The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Japanese Contemporary Art Festival Heyri Art Valley, South Korea
Art Court Frontier 2007 #5 Art Court Gallery, Osaka, Japan
2006 Selected Artists in Kyoto Kyoto Culture Foundation, Kyoto, Japan
2005 1st Kurashiki Contemporary Art Biennale Kurashiki City Art Museum, Okayama, Japan
[Workshops & Educational Activities]
2025 Nanako Kawaguchi Exhibition 2025 related program, Mokodi, Nagoya
2024 A-LAB GO＋ Summer Workshop: Challenge Oil Painting Transfer (油絵具で油彩転写にチャレンジ！) Amagasaki Lifelong Learning Plaza, Hyogo, Japan — Instructor
2024 Children’s Arts College: Oil Painting Transfer Workshop (こどもアーツカレッジ / 油彩転写) Enokojima, Osaka — Instructor
2023 A-LAB GO＋ Summer Workshop: Create a Treasure Box with Collage (コラージュで宝箱を作ろう) Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan — Instructor
2023 Children’s Arts College (こどもアーツカレッジ) Enokojima, Osaka — Lecturer
2023 Reuse Art Workshop: Exciting Feast Plate with Collage (リユース・アート ワークショップ ～未来にとどけ！みんなのチカラ) Kansai region — Instructor
[Awards]
2005 20th Holbein Scholarship
1st Kurashiki Contemporary Art Biennale — First Prize
Kyoto University of Arts Mayor’s Award
[Public Collection]
Okayama City Art Culture Promoting Foundation
Kyoto City University of Arts
Middlesex University