ARTIST Profile
- KOHEI NAWA
- Sculptor
Associate Professor, Kyoto University of Arts and Design
1975.9 Born in Osaka, JAPAN.
1994-1998 Kyoto City University of Art, B.A. Fine Art Sculpture. 1998-1999 Royal College of Art, Sculpture course, Exchange program. 2003 Kyoto City University of Art, Ph.D. Fine Art Sculpture. In 2005, he stayed in New York, for Asian Cultural Council (ACC) Japan-United States Arts Program. In 2006, he stayed in Berlin, for DaimlerChrysler foundation in Japan art support activity program “Art Scope 2005-2006”. And he was remarkable by the solo exhibition at SCAI THE BATHHOUSE. He held a lot of solo and group exhibitions in Japan and overseas. Starting from an awareness of outer layers or skins, he transforms materials into different forms of expression, based on the concept of "Cell", and metaphors for perception and thought. In 2009, he held a solo exhibition “L_B_S” at Maison Hermès, Ginza Tokyo. In overseas, he held a solo exhibition at GALERIE VERA, Hamburg German, and collected from the praise of local art collectors and participants. Also, he took part in “The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art”, Brisbane Australia, and attracted much attention as the highlight of the international exhibition, for example, the photograph of his work was used the cover of the exhibition catalog. In 2010, he was an artist of Japanese representative in Busan Biennale and Bangladesh Biennale. And he won the Grand Prize in Bangladesh Biennale. In addition, he released concept model of the cellular phone as Art Editions of iida by KDDI, set up a public art in Toyosu, and produced a music video for a famous musician, etc., so he has expanded more his range of activities. On the other hand, in 2009, he opened the platform for the creation "SANDWICH" (Fushimi, Kyoto) that renovated the old sandwich factory. He has produced his own works there, and also, has been managed the studio, where the creator of various genres such as artists, designers and architects meets and projects progresses, as a director. Now, he teaches as an associate professor of Kyoto University of Art and Design, and in ULTRA FACTORY to which artist Yanobe Kenji serves as the director, he held a team project “2010 ULTRA SANDWICH PROJECT” with a lot of students, which was able to witness and to experience closely whole contents of his activities as an artist, for example, a material experiment and technological development in "Clean room", etc.
[GRANTS / AWARDS］
- 1998
- "a boy and divine beasts" Alumni Association's Award/Annual Exhibition 1998(Kyoto City University of Arts)
- 2003
- Umehara Prize/Kirin Art Awards 2003/The highest award of Selected Artists in Kyoto
- 2004
- Grant of the city of Osaka (Sakuya Konohana Prize)
- 2005
- Grant of the city of Kyoto
- 2007
- Award of Kyoto Prefecture Culture
- 2008
- Jury's Prize of ROPPONGI CROSSING 2007
- 2010
- Grand Prize 1st of 14th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 2010
[SOLO EXHIBITIONS/GROUP EXHIBITIONS]
2002 "CELL", Nomart Edition / Project Space, Osaka
2005 "Visualize - The history and the futurescape of visual media", Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Biennial of Valencia "Thoughts of a Fish in the Deep Sea", Valencia
2006 "GUSH", SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo
2008 "The poetry of bizarre", Fundacio Joan Miro , Barcelona Spain
2009 "Cell", GALERIE VERA MUNRO ,Hamburg German, "L_B_S", Maison Hermès 8th Floor Le Forum ,Tokyo/ “The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art”, Brisbane Australia
2010 He was an artist of Japanese representative in Busan Biennale and Bangladesh Biennale. And He won the Grand Prize in Bangladesh Biennale. In addition, he released concept model of the cellular phone as Art Editions of iida by KDDI, and set up “VIA-Wall”, as a public art, in the office building Toyosu Front, Toyosu. Solo Exhibition "Synthesis", SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo.
2011 Solo Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo.
[PUBLIC COLLECTIONS]
Hara Museum, Tokyo／Takamastu city museum of Art, Kagawa／Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo／Mori Art Museum, Tokyo／Entrance lobby of Takenaka Corporation Tokyo Main Office, Tokyo／Shin-Marunouchi Building, Tokyo／Toyosu Front, Tokyo／ The Sovereign Art Foundation, Hong Kong／ Franks Suss Collection, London／DaimlerChrysler Contemporary, Berlin／Pigozzi Collection, USA／Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane and more
