Manika Nagare was born in 1975 and graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design. Starting with "VOCA 2000" (the prize known as the gateway to success for young painters), Nagare has been showing in and outside of country including Artist-in-Residency Program through Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists (NY), Pola Art Foundation Grant in 2004 (NY, Turkey), “VOCA 2006”, “Special POLA Exhibiion : New and Rising Artists 2006”, “Outstanding Rising Artists Exhibition” (Sompo Japan Fine Art Foundation), and many other. She will participate in the "DOMANI 2010" held in the National Art Center, Tokyo in December 2010. Her recent activity include workshops and collaborations with artists in other genre, in addition to oil paintings.

* An annual group show since 1998 for the artists who have experienced artist-in-residence through Agency of Cultural Affair (Japanese Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists).

About the exhibition

Nagare has been working on abstract paintings created by capturing image of someone who she walked past and wondering what going through in their life. You may be see people's shadow or feel their warmth in the paintings which also can be seen as a landscape.

Her works has a consistent theme of "interest in someone else". There is no specific model in her paintings but they are fragments of people who she saw in everyday life and processed the impression in her own way. In this exhibition, the first solo show at YUKA CONTEMPORARY, she is showing 13 works painted with her inspiration of "a new gallery in the sparkling surface of a river and shuddering trees in a pleasant breathe" in addition to the existing theme.

The dim shape of human body and finely named unique title expressed with layers of colors of oil paintings and rhythmical brush stroke - with all these clues, your imagination will be overly leaped into someone's existence.

Artist statement

I wonder how someone else spend their everyday lives.
I have been considering further by creating artworks from the interest.
Those anonymous people who captured my eyes in a city or media
are changing their figures through my imagination and interpret.
The afterglows that are left on me
become a brilliant scenery like spores floating around.
It is not easy to understand each other.
Therefore my heart bounce.