If you’re keen to know what’s going on in Japan‘s contemporary and urban art scene, DIESEL Art Gallery in Tokyo is an excellent place to start. Currently on is a solo exhibition, entitled Tree of Life, of emerging Japanese graphic designer and artist Rei Nakanishi. Born in 1994 in rural Mie Prefecture, Nakanishi relocated to the United States in 2016. While working as an assistant to New York City-based based Japanese artist Meguru Yamaguchi, he also started his own art projects. After returning to the homeland in 2019, he produced his most renowned series Flower of Life as a freelancer, and to this day, he constantly releases new artwork and enthusiastically participates in numerous group exhibitions both in Japan and abroad. Nakanishi is also a member of GOLD WOOD ART WORKS, a multi-disciplinary group of artists led by Yamaguchi. Nakanishi’s artistic style combines a unique painting expression that emphasises the characteristics of acrylic paint with printing techniques centred on his experience as a graphic designer, all the while challenging the very definition of modern art. For this exhibition, curated by in-the-know Tokyo-based Calm & Punk Gallery, a limited number of catalogs exclusively made for the occasion will be available for purchase, and to commemorate the event, both a DIESEL x Rei Nakanishi collab hoodie and exhibition-exclusive wallpaper will be released (on through Apr 21).
DIESEL Art Gallery
Cocoti Building, 1-13-16 Shibuya, Level B1 (Shibuya)
Tokyo 150-0002
Telephone: +81 3 64275955
Daily 11.30am-8pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
