Iku Nagai - Prints and Paintings

Iku Nagai, a solo exhibition of paintings, opens in the Peninsula Museum of Art's Decker and South Galleries on Sept. 13 (through Dec. 20).  Nagai’s reception will be held on Sunday, Oct. 4, in conjunction with Asia Week SF.  The exhibition at Peninsula Museum of Art features works created since Nagai's 1999 retrospective show at the Triton Museum of Art, plus two previous enormous canvases.

Born in Kyoto, Japan, Ikuko Nagai was trained in traditional Japanese painting under the tutelage of master artists. As a member of the "Imagination" Fine Art Association, she adopted cubism and other Western abstract techniques as a means of self-expression, producing her iconic "Prelude to Vernation" (mixed media with dry mineral pigments and silver leaf on panel-mounted paper. 83 x 60 in.).  Seeking to blend realist and abstract influences, she later joined the "Inten" Fine Art Association and exhibited her paintings, notably "Chairs," at Tokyo's National Fine Art Museum.  

In 1975, Nagai moved to San Mateo, California to further her education.  After earning her Master of Fine Arts at San Jose State University, she established herself in the Bay Area art scene, exhibiting her paintings in local galleries and at the Triton Art Museum.  Always evolving, Nagai created her own synthesis of historic Japanese aesthetics and contemporary genres.  
 
 Nagai's statement:
"(I have) always tried to encourage and adopt the influence of Western Art. Most established Japanese painters depict art as symbolic stage-like settings and allegorical scenes, expressively arranged in traditional format.  My goal was to explore the technical innovation and modernization of Japanese art, and to amalgamate the influence of conventional Japanese teaching.  Through this approach, I worked to convey my personal aesthetic sensitivity."