Natsuyasumi: In the Beginning Was Love

Press: 

Art Viewer, August 23, 2021
Hyperallergic, August 10, 2021

 Nonaka-Hill is honored to present Natsuyasumi: In the Beginning Was Love. A group exhibition with the ideals of Summer Vacation as it’s muse. Presenting works by eleven contemporary artists working in Japan, the dense variety of images may resemble someone else’s phone camera roll after a summer well spent with family and friends, good times, good food and good drink (perhaps a little too much drink). The exhibition opens on July 28th and continues through September 11th, 2021.

You never know which moment, however insignificant it may have seemed at that time, may later be ascribed with importance, or poetry. So, we keep all the images, as evidence of a life lived. We all know that despite the incoherent compositions, the lack of poise, the image really is a vessel of some meaning, feeling, some forgettable moments that when remembered by the image, even accidentally, can be stuck with us as a time that was fun.

Natsuyasumi, one of the words to be learned in a Japanese Language 101 course, means Summer Vacation. The singsongy pronunciation (Nah tsu - yah sue me) is almost onomatopoeically appropriate to its subject, making it quite easy to remember, like a good Pop song.

Participating artists are Masaya Chiba, Cobra, Motoyuki Daifu, Koichi Enomoto, Daisuke Fukunaga, Nanami Hori, Kyoko Idetsu, Ulala Imai, Yusuke Saito, Takuro Tamayama, Tadanori Yokoo.