Kota Nakamura

□→○ 2023 Mixed media 14 x 18 x 18 in I call it □→○. You can walk around the piece and view it from various angles. It gradually changes from a square at the bottom to a circle at the top, signifying peace and harmony. When people touch or sit on the metal chair, it is gently warmed to human skin temperature by the heating unit, thus representing a paradox. This is a different, bigger version of my WTC Memorial Site proposal model. Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by Hiroyuki Mori

Beyond 2023年 Mixed media 20 x 16 x 44in The stand is from a hundred-year-old tree, hatchet carved wooden beam that was recovered from a demolished house. The fractured glass sections were created instantly by the impact of a single gunshot. Though varied in material and purpose, the contrast of the wooden stand and the fractured glass seems to match visually. It’s like how the various plain ingredients of a hamburger taste more delicious when eaten together all at once. In this piece, I look to go beyond each material’s original meaning and purpose to create something more aesthetically pleasing. Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by […]

Yoichi 2023 Screen print on Japanese paper 23 x 17in The Tale of the Heike In 1185, Minamoto no Yoshitsune of the Genji military family attacked the Heike military family and had the fierce Battle of Yashima Island. From this battle comes the well-known episode of the samurai Nasu no Yoichi who fires an arrow at a fan atop a pole held by a court lady on a Heike ship to predict who will win. My work signifies a contemporary version of this episode by firing a gun in our current unstable transition era. Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by Hiroyuki Mori

Dream Pillow 2022 Mixed media 24 x 17.5 x 13.5 in While sleeping, a connection is made from the pillow to the dream world. As the branches stretch up to the stars, the boundary between reality and dreams melts away. As I did in my dream, I want people to feel the beauty of the dark night, the blue sky and the glimmering evening dew. Photo by Yoshika Horita Photo by Yoshika Horita Photo by Yoshika Horita

Woman 2021 Mixed media 3 x 16 x 5.7 ft While still at art school, I was extremely exhausted after a day of moving heavy steel work from my studio. That night I experienced sleep paralysis. I felt like I was tied down to my bed and the weight of gravity was three times more than normal. I saw a black, smokey figure floating above me, and the bottom half of my body was connected to its smoke. As I couldn’t move, I tried to find out who it was by smelling. In doing so, I slightly smelled the sweet scent of a woman and my sleep paralysis gradually disappeared. […]

Fracture 2 2017 Mixed media 23 x 7 x 7in When the spinning bullet hits the transparent target, the expanding tip creates unique fracture lines that tear and separate much like petals from a flower. It also looks like a fallen meteorite entering Earth’s atmosphere that can no longer hold its shape as it burns and disperses. Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by Junji Takahashi Photo by Junji Takahashi

Betweenness 49 x16 x 0.02inch I am intrigued by the architectural in-between space in Japanese teahouses; half of which is inside private space while the other half is outside public space. In this piece, the viewer experiences a sense of life and death expressed through the bullets` holes in the suspended mirror surfaces. At the same time, the blue gradation signifies the purity of Sennyuji Temple’s water, while the gold surface is reminiscent of the gold often used in Buddhist art. Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by Hiroyuki Mori

Mach 1 S 16 x 16 x 0.4inch Violence and Zen coexist to create ambivalence. The cracks are reminiscent of the lightning bolts in Hokusai’s painting. Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by Hiroyuki Mori

White 12 x 12 x 0.2inch The color of the bullet holes change to yellow due to the chemical reaction of gunpowder. But I call it white. In common sense yellow means yellow, but still I call it white. As an artist, I believe I am free to call yellow white. However, I am the one who cannot fully escape from the common knowledge of what the meaning of a color ordinarily indicates. Photo by Hiroyuki Mori

Border 2019 bullet, glass, and film 18 x 18 x 0.4in each The blue greenish cold color of cracks and the film of hot color are coexisted. The form the glass barely is hold by the film but it is breaking. In here, aesthetics and the violent feelings are mixed. It is like ourselves who are standing on the border. Photo by Seizo Terasaki Photo by Seizo Terasaki

Mach 1 2019 Mixed media 66 x 74 x 1in I showed this piece in Sennyuji Temple in Kyoto. Along with its Zen garden, the temple is known for being the burial place of old emperors. The contrast of the peaceful Zen temple and the impact of the bullets in the folding screen at first provokes a disconnect, but as a whole it creates a visual and conceptual harmony. This harmony is expressed in the monotone colors and minimal shapes, as well as in the sense of perishing embodied in the bullets and corduroy steel frame. Mach 1 signifies the speed of the bullets. Photo by Kouichi Inoguchi Photo by […]

Perforate 2017 bullet, gold, and brass 12 x 12 x 71in This piece captures the moment a bullet goes through several gold plates and stops at the last plate. The collision signifies the destructive energy within space and time. Likewise, Earth started out from sparks of colliding meteorites. Photo by Hiroyuki Mori Photo by Hiroyuki Mori

Fracture 2017 bullets, silicon, and plexiglass 7 x 7 x 30in　 I shot a gun into a piece of silicon in order to capture the moment of bullets hitting their target. The fracture lines curve like fish. Photo by Seizo Terasaki Photo by Seizo Terasaki

Japanese paper chair 2016 mixed media 16 x 55 x 24in A shadow creeps up from the bottom of the chair while the user’s heartbeat fights against it. The red colored stripe of paper is located at the level of the user`s heart. Photo by Junji Takahashi

Virginity 2013 mixed media 5.1 x 6.6 x 9.5ft A Japanese traditional white wedding dress (kimono) gradually gets soaked in black ink as time goes by, thus losing its purity. Photo by Junji Takahashi

Burst 2009 shot of the balls, silicon 20 x 20 x 2in Buckshot spreads radially with thin perforated lines, capturing the moment of a single shotgun blast into a piece of silicon. Photo by Junji Takahashi Photo by Junji Takahashi Photo by Junji Takahashi

Burst 2009 bullet, gold, and brass 8 x 8 x 1in The bullet is stuck in the gold chrome plate by the impact of a gun shot, thus creating its mortar shape. Photo by Junji Takahashi Photo by Junji Takahashi

Burst 2009 gold and brass 20 x 20 x 1in　 I shot at gun at shooting range in Hawaii for future viewers to get shot visually and conceptually and to disperse their spirits from reality.  The viewer’s image is reflected on the gold-chromed mirror piece with gun holes and a bullet that became a part of it. I use gold because the Japanese Buddha’s statue used to be covered in gold. 

Museum Chair 2008 plexiglass 23 x 23 x 23in This is a collaboration of Le Corbusier’s chair and my chair.  It highlights contrasting techniques of the past and present.  I hesitate to even sit on this masterpiece directly. To preserve it, I made a plexiglass chair to cover the original chair leaving a one-inch space between the two chairs. In this way, the viewer sits floating on the air of the masterpiece. Photo by Junji Takahashi Photo by Junji Takahashi Photo by Junji Takahashi

Duality 2007 mixed media 6.5 x 6.5 x 14ft People experience a different sense of time, space and energy by sitting on the same steel bench inside and outside the large structure. The half of the bench inside remains with the original black surface due to a controlled environment, but the half outside gets rusty and deforms by the weather. Photo by Junji Takahashi

WTC Memorial Site Proposal(Warm Steel) 2007 ABS resin shaped by NC machine 4 x 4 x 4in I call this piece “Reclamation”. The iron is solid and will be casted from ruins of the World Trade Center. When people touch the object it will gently warm to human skin temperature, thus representing a paradox. The angle is planned to be comfortable for all of mankind when leaned upon. It gradually changes from a square at the bottom to a circle at the top, signifying peace. Photo by Junji Takahashi Photo by Junji Takahashi

Surface Tension 2002 mixed media 8 x 8 x 10ft 15,000 custom-made glass droppers are suspended from overhead boards hanging from the ceiling. The viewer can experience a feeling of tension and sensitivity below this mass of fluid. The mass of fluid is made up of the many small individual drops of the droppers, but as a whole, looks like a pool upon which the light reflects. It is the opposite of reality. Photo by Gregg Stanger Photo by Gregg Stanger Photo by Gregg Stanger