kohei Nawa

kohei Nawa | Japan b.1975 | PixCell-Elk#2 2009 | 240 x 249.5 x 198cm | Taxidermied elk, glass, acrylic, crystal beads | Work created with the support of the Fondation d’enterprise Hermės | Courtesy the artist and SCAI, Tokyo | Photograph: Seiji Toyonaga

b.1975 Osaka, Japan

Lives and works in Kyoto, Japan

As a sculptor, Kohei Nawa is concerned with forms and surfaces and how they interact to become objects. His sculptures often exploit the tactile nature of surfaces, as in his ‘Pixcell’ series (2002–), in which he covers the surfaces of objects with glass beads of various sizes. The outer layer suggests a molecular structure, and also references the pixel of the computer screen. Fascinated by how we navigate objects in the virtual world via the internet, Nawa enters keywords into web search engines and creates sculptures based on the images that are returned, with his objects — such as taxidermied animals — sourced from online auction sites. Nawa’s skin of glass beads magnifies the object in some areas and distorts it in others, shifting our perception and questioning how we encounter things in our daily environment. His ‘Pixcell’ sculptures, such as PixCell – Elk#2 2009 shown in APT6, encapsulate Nawa’s longstanding interest in how we come to understand what we see.

Exhibitions (solo): Galerie Vera Munro, Hamburg, Germany, 2009; Miro Foundation, Barcelona, Spain, 2008; Peking Fine Arts, Beijing, China, 2008; Ierimonti Gallery, Milan, Italy, 2007; SCAI The Bathhouse, Tokyo, Japan, 2006. Exhibitions (group): ‘Parallel Worlds’ Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan, 2008; ‘Great New Wave: Contemporary Art from Japan’, Art Gallery of Hamilton, British Columbia, 2008; ‘Roppongi Crossing’, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 2007; Biennial of Valencia, Spain, 2005. www.kohei-nawa.net

http://qag.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/recently_archived/apt6/artists/kohei_nawa