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Portrait photograph of Tomomichi Nakauchi (black and white)

Tomomichi Nakauchi

Born in Kochi and based in Hiroshima, Tomomichi Nakauchi is a Nihonga painter working primarily in mineral pigments on silk, depicting animals and flowering plants in soft, luminous tones. Associate member of the Japan Art Institute.

Biography

1979
Born in Kochi Prefecture, Japan
1998
Graduated from Oko High School, Kochi
2002
Graduated from Hiroshima City University, Faculty of Arts, majoring in Nihonga (Japanese-style painting)
2003
Selected, 6th Kakogawa “River” Painting Grand Prize Exhibition
2009
Selected, Shohaku Bird-and-Flower Painting Exhibition (also ’13) / Solo exhibition, Gallery SORA, Hiroshima (also ’10, ’12)
2010
Selected, Maeda Seison Nihonga Grand Prize Exhibition / Hiroshima City University Selected Nihonga Exhibition, Yachiyo-no-Oka Museum
2014
Solo exhibition “orchestra,” Ancharette, Hiroshima / Began dedicating annual zodiac paintings to Shirasaki Hachimangu Shrine, Iwakuni (through ’25)
2015
Bijutsu Tokusenkai, Iwataya Mitsukoshi, Fukuoka / Tanabata Exhibition, Fujiiya Miyajima, Hiroshima / “Soresore no Keshiki,” Shinjuku Takashimaya Art Gallery, Tokyo
2016
“A Sign of Nihonga,” Galerie Rutin, Tokyo (also ’17, ’18) / Flag of the West, Sato Museum of Art & Morita Gallery, Tokyo / Watercolor solo exhibition “reminiscence,” Gallery Tsuki, Hiroshima
2017
Solo exhibition, Fukuya Hatchobori, Hiroshima (also ’22, ’25)
2018
Selected, Spring Inten Exhibition (also ’20, ’21, ’22, ’23, ’24)
2019
Excellence Award, 7th Ouka Prize Exhibition, Sato Sakura Museum, Tokyo
2020
Selected, Inten — The Japan Art Institute Exhibition (also ’22, ’23, ’24, ’25)
2021
“Shinnen Sousou Exhibition,” Galerie Miyasaka, Tokyo (also ’22–’26)
2022
Nihonga Encouragement Award, Hiroshima Shinkin Bank (FY2021)
Currently
Associate Member (In’yu), The Japan Art Institute
Instructor, Nihonga class “Saki no Kai” (Hiroshima) / Instructor, Yushin Watercolor Class (Iwakuni)

Artist Statement

When I look into an animal's eyes, I feel that it is seeing something humans cannot see — perhaps a story from a world we don't know, perhaps something within the human heart. Through the act of painting, I want to catch a glimpse of that. I bring the same gaze to living creatures, plants, and landscapes as well.

I don't think of Nihonga as a matter of building up thick layers of pigment. Drawn to the soft luminosity of silk, I try to capture the freshness of life with as few brushstrokes as possible.

Cherishing quiet air and soft light, I hope viewers can sense the presence of a story onto which they might layer their own memories and emotions.