A Man Standing by the Purple Rapids Mourning for the Dead

Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1956, Kazumi Nakamura is an artist representing the contemporary Japanese art scene. He finished the graduate program of Tokyo University of the Arts in 1984. Nakamura debuted in the 1980s and his early paintings with Y forms using the tree shape as a motif attracted attention. Subsequently, Nakamura produced Diagonal Grid, C Opened, Ranging Difference – Broken Shelter, Broken Hermitages, Saisoro, and Shokusocho (Phoenix) series. Nakamura explores creation of paintings in a new dimension and his own theory of paintings by referring to classical Japanese art and Chinese art in an attempt to critically overcome American Abstract Expressionism. With more than 1200 works to this day, he continues to practice creation of paintings at the level different from formalistic abstract paintings.


Mourning for the Dead is a series produced after the Saisoro series and thus some works in the series have similar figurations. The figure in A Man Standing by the Purple Rapids Mourning for the Dead is dancing Saisoro and is also a saint standing motionlessly to mourn the dead. Nakamura placed his distinctive metallic colors and translucent colors in a complex manner using different strokes. The outcome is a grand beauty on the canvas.