Naoto Kumagai: Three Forests

Naoto Kumagai started painting plants as his main motif after entering Tokyo University of Arts. Kumagai has been developing his own way and found the current style in 2003. During his long career of painting plants for nearly 10 years, the artist continuously explores many attempts, simplifying the motif or making it complex. His paintings have usually white background, which is all covered with shapes like leaves and stems as motif. Plant motif spreads freely on the screen, it sometimes appears as covered in the transparent white like a mist, and also it sometimes rises with bright color in the white background. The various white background forms contrast, and gives senses of freshness and livelihood or even coldness to the motif.
Each plant should have each individual name. We divide plants comparing shapes of leaves and colors to categorize them biologically, and then we give them names for our convenience. However, Kumagai does not seem to be very much keen on the differences of plant in this way. As showing a number of his past works entitled “Tree” and ”Forest”, forest is the aggregate which grows in the new direction as if it scrambles for a space where branch are grown and crossed like joints. It would be the motif for the artist that “Plant” which approaches and surrounds us, transcends the individual difference. In Kumagai’s work, plant gives an impression that it contests with the white background, breathes air in the background, and makes the air assimilate into the air in the outside space with viewers.
At this exhibition, we will present wall-size scale of his large work “Three Forests”, and also his new work painted colorful trees. Viewers could have an experience as if Kumagai’s tree dominates the space in the exhibition.

Toshio Kondo, Art Front Gallery