How to paint strange pictures

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Keisuke Naito: Art Collection

List of Works


*Click on the image to enlarge it. Click on the “i” in the bottom right of the enlarged image to see an explanation.

With the intent of expressing the inner aspects of a certain woman, I filled her silhouette with evocative words taken from newspaper advertisements. As you look at the woman’s silhouette, please also look at the text. Do you begin to get a general understanding of this woman’s profile? Everyone understands the words in the same way.
● The sharing of concepts
Title: Memories of Miss G
Size 40P: 1000 x 727 mm  Acrylic and collage (later digitally adapted), 1971
I cut out the outline of the woman’s pose from newspaper, paste it onto the canvas, and paint in the shadow. For some reason, the shadow peels off from the top, revealing a beautiful face.
A shadow is only cast when there is a real object there. It does not curl or hang down.
● Repeated negation of concepts
Title: Memories of Miss Y
Size 40F: 1000 x 803 mm  Acrylic and collage (later digitally adapted), 1971
Before reading the text, just look at this picture without thinking about anything.
If you find it uninteresting or don’t understand what it’s about, try reading the English text around the figure.
Do you get a general idea of this woman’s profile?
Don’t you feel there’s something that can’t be expressed by just writing about a woman?
● Sharing concepts through written words
Title: Memories of Miss S
Size 40F: 1000 x 803 mm  Acrylic and collage (later digitally adapted), 1971
To those who think “Ah, that’s nice,” don’t read the following words.
For some reason, the silhouette casts a shadow that hangs down, revealing the true image of a beautiful woman.
Consider once more the meaning of the words and the image as a whole.
The repetition of illusion and the development of reality.
● Negation of concepts and sharing of the concepts of written words
Title: Memories of Miss A
Size 50F: 1167 x 910 mm  Acrylic and collage (later digitally adapted), 1972
I tried to represent a state in which the real person has disappeared, but their shadow remains. At the time, a newspaper in Cologne, East Germany, mentioned hands emerging from the shadows.
Something is off… I wrote what knowledge I had of her within the shadows.
Although the actual person is not there, the shadow is there, and the hands are real.
● Negation of concepts and sharing of written concepts
Title: Yomotsuhegui (Dining in the Underworld) (1) (2) Nominated for the 8th Japan Art Festival Award
Size 1810 × 910 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn, 1973
This shows the marks of someone having drawn water.
The feminine footprints must surely be those of a slender beauty.
Even if the person is not shown, the viewer can develop the picture according to their own preferences.
It is no longer in the hands of the artist.
● Considering watering a tree = Concept
● Fetching water and pouring it on the tree = Action
● The tree does not wither = Result
Concept as purpose
Composition of conceptual art
Action      Result
● Traces of action
Title: Water Faucet, 1973   Exhibited at the Japan International Art Exhibition (Mainichi Newspaper)
Size 100P: 1620 x 1303 mm   Acrylic paint, hand-painted, 1973
This is a hands-on confirmation of reality. Everyone has a certain sense of touch in their hands, so along with the illustrated hands, the viewer will slide their own hands over the surface while looking at it.
The viewer is trying hard to understand what is there by feeling their way around.
● Understanding actual circumstances and confirming reality
Title: Lemon, 1973   Exhibited at the 20th Shell Art Award Exhibition
Size 50F: 1167 x 910 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, 1973
There’s no way this could happen! So says a child excitedly, looking at the painting.
Another child reacts instead with anger. The adults pause in a moment of bewilderment.
The balloon does not have the strength to lift the heavy old woman, sitting so composed.
It defies the concept of immutability.
● The act of negating a concept
Title: Grandma Won’t Fall, 1975   Exhibited at the Japan International Art Exhibition (Mainichi Newspaper)
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn, 1975
Something seems strange, but it’s drawn so precisely. Is the balloon heavier than the blocks? Won’t the glass plate break? An impossible situation is depicted sincerely and realistically. To be impossible is to deviate from the concept of reality.
● Negation of concepts
Title: The Blocks Won’t Fall
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn, 1975
The balance is maintained between just a single ant and a fairly large stone, keeping the scale rod level.
It’s a bizarre situation. Being bolted to the space, the scale is reduced to a flat surface.
Thus, the two ants in the middle can naturally stay in the space.
A fictional world where plane and space are placed in the same dimension.
● Negation of the space of concepts
Title: Weighing Ants, 1991   Exhibited at the Emba Art Prize Exhibition
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn, 1981
A New Wave of Creation
Work 81-1   From the 15th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan      2
113 x 147 cm   Canvas, oil paint, acrylic, etc.
A balloon, a concrete block, and a cabbage are all floating in the air. Does this depict a state of zero gravity? Not so. A real chain hanging from the protrusions above the one child standing alone on the right clearly demonstrates that heavy objects will always fall due to gravity.
So what kind of prank is this?
It’s no prank. The picture gives off a cool sense of artistic triumph by presenting a weighty motif in a casual manner to pique the viewer’s curiosity. Why do we believe that balloons float but concrete blocks and cabbages cannot? The picture contains an allegory about questioning whether it is really okay to trust the conventions of society. The artist places ordinary objects in extraordinary circumstances. It is a puzzle that challenges us to open our eyes, to not settle for the ordinary, and to change the angle from which we view things.
Yet even if we decipher that meaning, there’s still something strange about this picture. The children also, each covering their mouth with one hand, are posed as if to say, “Oh, that’s weird.”
The very appearance of the painting, which depicts impossible things, is humorous. The picture gives of a cool sense of artistic triumph by presenting a weighty motif in a casual manner to pique the viewer’s curiosity.
Amazingly, though the four identical children appear to be photographic transfers, they are actually hand-drawn in colored pencil. This was achieved by carefully filling in each point on a finely divided grid. Both the block and the cabbage have texture very similar to the real thing. It is precisely because the picture is created in a mechanical way with such painstaking effort that it achieves a realistic effect, like a photo from a glossy magazine. (Sadao Kato) = Article continues within.
The 15th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan is being held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo, until May 12th (closed on Mondays). Admission fees are 600 yen for adults, 400 yen for university and high school students, and 200 yen for elementary and junior high school students (100-yen discount each for groups of 20 or more and advance tickets).
The balloon, the cabbage, and the block are all floating.
The three-dimensional space is undeniably mysterious.
There are bolts driven into the top right of the canvas and a chain hangs between them.
This is the act of transforming spatial depth into a flat plane.
The boundary between the three-dimensional and the two-dimensional
● Rejection of the space of notions
The incident in which Mr. XX of the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art rejected the purchase the work and the award was suddenly revoked. According to Mr. Kato, Literature Department Director
The balloon, the cabbage, and the block are all floating. The three-dimensional space is undeniably mysterious. There are bolts driven into the top right of the canvas and a chain hangs between them. This is the act of transforming spatial depth into a flat plane.
● Rejection of the space of notions
Title: The Children of the Fujii Household, 1981   Exhibited at the Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan (Mainichi Newspaper), award withdrawn
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn, 1981
This is the embankment of the Meguro River. The red balloons are floating straight up in vertical lines. That’s a given. It falls within our concept of reality.
But, Mr. Fujii’s child is standing at the same angle as the embankment.
This is odd; anyone would think it’s weird. Because it is outside our concept of reality. Children can see ahead with peace of mind.
● Rejection of notions
Title: The Children of the Fujii Household (2)
Size 25F: 803 x 803 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, 1983
Among the residents are both the Emperor Showa and the rakugo performer Mr. XX.
It’s a normal three-story apartment building, but something off!
The residents! They defy common sense, which means they fall outside our concept of normality.
● Rejection of notions
Title: Residents of Aobaso (1)
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1984
A moment of twilight as the sun quietly sets. Silence fills the simple, unadorned house, but something feels strange.
In this picture, the empty room is quiet, but there is also half a fish, jizo lanterns, a scrapped car, and even an elephant’s butt. A single building. A quiet scene.
● A scene of rejection of notions
Title: Residents of Kuretakeso (1), 1982   Exhibited at the Japan International Art Exhibition (Mainichi Newspaper)
Size 100P: 1620 x 1303 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1984
Can fish swim in the sky? Isn’t that dog too big, and can Mt Fuji fit in such a small room? What’s happened to the tail end of that giant salmon!?
The old man walking and the girl seem fine. As Mr. XX said, don’t draw a sloppy picture! This picture doesn’t need any unique expression. There are simply things that should not exist, right there.
● Existence that rejects notions
Title: Residents of Kuretakeso (2)
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1984
● Existence that rejects notions and actions
Title: Residents of Hinodeso (1)
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1984
Don’t draw a sloppy picture! This picture doesn’t need any unique expression.
There are simply things that should not exist, right there.
● Existence that rejects notions
Title: Residents of Kuretakeso (2)
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1984
This tree-story building with a chimney is the second of three pictures. A common notion or concept is something of which everyone in a society that shares the same culture expects to have the same understanding and interpretation. To discard that concept means depicting things that everyone would find different, strange, amusing, or unacceptable.
● Rejection of notions
Title: Residents of Hinodeso (2)
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1984
This is the third and final piece of the Hinodeso pictures. I drew everything I wanted to draw: Marilyn Monroe, a broken-down pickup truck, a dog peeing on the roof, a hippopotamus, a festival lantern, a bluebottle butterfly, a red balloon, a crescent moon, a giant pair of scissors, and an old woman about to jump out of a window.
● The big sale of the rejection of notions
Title: Residents of Hinodeso (3)
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1984
Numbers and letters are understood by everyone to have the same meaning.
There is no one who would doubt or reject the numbers on a house’s blueprints.
So, this should increase the reality of the building in the drawing and create sense of realism. But this is where the residents appear and reject our notions of reality.
● The use of notions and the rejection of notions
Title: Sanshu Kato Design Office
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1984
I wanted to draw a building that no one had ever seen before, so I took inspiration from old castles in Northern Europe and completed my own castle! The lines and numbers on the blueprint emphasize reality. The residents remain steadfastly outside our concept of reality.
● The sharing and rejection of notions
 
● The difference between concepts and notions
● Concept: Looking at a lighter and seeing a tool for lighting a fire
● Notion: Grasping the lighter and producing fire!
Title: Residents of an Old Castle, 1983   Exhibited at the Japan International Art Exhibition (Mainichi Newspaper)
Size 80F: 1455 x 1120 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1983
Smoking a cigarette and wearing sandals, an old lady brings a concrete block as a mid-year gift. The recipient, Mt. Fuji, offers thanks. The block and the old lady are too big. Has Mount Fuji shrunk? The old lady hardly seems equipped for mountain climbing. And what kind of gift is a concrete block? Everything is detached from the realm of concepts and presented with realism.
● A scene of rejection of notions
Title: One of the Eight Views of Mt. Fuji (1)
Size 15F: 652 x 530 mm   Pencil on paper, hand-drawn, 1985
This is the final unsold piece of the Eight Views of Mt. Fuji. The book is stood upright at the foot of the mountain and a brush is placed atop them both. This achieves an arrangement that should not be possible in reality. This painting works by completely ignoring the relationship between the sizes of Mt. Fuji, the brush, and the book.
● A scene of rejection of notions
Title: One of the Eight Views of Mt. Fuji (7)
Size 15F: 652 x 530 mm   Pencil on paper, hand-drawn, 1985
Bringing down a house in a ridiculous way that no one would ever or could ever do.
A fish pulls, a balloon lifts, a cat tugs. The setup is unstable and the house will soon collapse. All this action is not within our concept of normality.
● Actions of the near future based on the rejection of notions
Title: Bringing Down the House (1)   Wakayama Art Award Exhibition, Excellence Award recipient
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1110 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1985
A bunch of different things are pulling at the house. After you’ve finished looking and have returned home, this five-story house will surely have collapsed.
Bringing down a house in a ridiculous and impossible way. The letters in the picture are meant to reaffirm the objects depicted.
● Existence that rejects notions, actions of the near future
Title: Bringing Down the House (2)   Wakayama Art Award Exhibition, Excellence Award recipient
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1110 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1985
Why pull down the house? It’s a solitary act done without any thought on what to do next, the purpose, or the outcome. In short, it is an act of rejection against notions and existence.
Bringing down a house in the most ridiculous way. It won’t collapse so long as you are looking at it. It will collapse when no one is around.
● Rejection of perverse notions, actions of the future
Title: Bringing Down the House (3), 1986   Exhibited at the Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan (Mainichi Newspaper)
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1110 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1986
The canvas forms a flat surface, stretched tight and held in place at the top corners. The old man is alone, struggling to bear the weight of it all. With a placid face. What an amazing old man!
Such a scenario could never happen. This is a fantasy game in my head. A game that involves playing with the principles of gravity.
● Playing with the rejection of notions
Title: Weighing Grandpa
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1110 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1986
The egg is about to fall and crack. A number of different things are pulling on the egg. The size ratios and spatial settings are all absurd. There’s a plane, but also a fish. They completely ignore what everyone thinks about how things ought to be and just play around as they please.
● Rejection of notions, actions of the near future
Title: Cracking an Egg, 1989   Exhibited at the Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan (Mainichi Newspaper)
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1110 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1989
Text that confirms existence, an assortment of objects whose existence is absurd, an unstable fictional space that exists only by discarding all common sense. No one can tell when this will all collapse, and the rock will fall when no one is watching. Foolish actions with no anticipation of what will come next and no thought of purpose or outcome.
● Rejection of purpose and outcome
Title: Dropping a Rock, 2009   48th Hokuriku Chunichi Art Exhibition, Best 4 Excellence Award recipient
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1110 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1989
Five people, a cat, and a fish are pulling on strings to lift a rock.
The man on the bottom left is not involved in this incident. The act of lifting a rock in an impossible and absurd way, without pursuing any purpose or outcome. Simply pulling on the strings without a care.
● Rejection of notions, setting and actions
Title: Raising a Rock (1)
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1110 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1990
These people are not flying a kite, but a large rock.
One of them is even flying the moon. There is also a fish. And a man reading a newspaper. The fish swims in the moonlit sky — a crossing of dimensions. A rock that shouldn’t float is floating. A large rock that exists in a fictional space.
● Interplay of rejection of notions and acts of reality
Title: Raising a Rock (2)
Size 100P: 1620 x 1303 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1992
Raising up a large rock with long poles. Why? For what purpose? Can they do it? And what will happen next? Will it fall and break? Will it sink into the ground? They have absolutely no thought about the purpose or the outcome. They are simply using their poles to raise up the rock. A completely pointless act.
● The existence of notions and the act of rejection
Title: Raising a Rock (3)
Size 100P: 1620 x 1303 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1992
Ten people and a cat are lifting a rock. The old man in the middle and the police officer are not participating. What is the relationship between the small stone and the moon? Is the stone hanging from the moon, or is the moon dangling the stone?
Since it has a well, the rock must be large indeed. Since the butterfly is flying, it must be in a three-dimensional space.
Are the people floating in the sky? This absurd space is a fictional realm.
● A game of rejecting notions
Title: Raising a Rock (4)
Size 100P: 1620 x 1303 mm   Acrylic and colored pencil, hand-drawn (later digitally adapted), 1992
An old a weathered theater still standing in the countryside, where sword fighting troupes come to perform and from time to time even a nude shows is put on. I sit in the back seat of the dilapidated theater and close my eyes. An assortment of things that defy the ordinary come back to life — A black cat sticks out its tongue, a Buddha peeks out, hands emerge, feet protrude, grass sprouts from a person’s mouth, an old light bulb dangles, a peculiar sun and moon hover above.
● A grand performance of rejecting notions
Title: Night at Tokiwaza
2010 Nagakute Culture Center Picture Competition, Grand Prize recipient
Size 25S: 803 x 803 mm   Colored pencil on paper (later digitally adapted), 1996
I use conceptual art as a means of expression to convey my inner self.
This reflects my personal notions. From the many years of accumulated work, the staff of characters I’ve illustrated up until now are brought back to life.
They act independently, outside the bounds of common sense. A surreal theater of heroes. This is the second in a series.
● An ensemble of rejection of notions
Title: Night at Tokiwaza (2)
Size 25S: 803 x 803 mm   Colored pencil on paper (later digitally adapted), 1997
The ladder on the left, the string on the right, the light outlet, and the surrounding walls are all set on the outside. Thus, the boy has his hands on an outer wall. The girl is standing with her back to an inner wall. The two of them end up in different dimensions. What I want to express is the deep psychology of boyhood.
● The fusion of different dimensions through the rejection of notions
Title: Let Me, Show You
Size 50 modified: 1167 x 1098 mm   Digital painting (Adobe Photoshop), 2011
The wall that the child is holding on to is on the outside. The floor that the woman sleeps on is on the inside. So you end up viewing the scene from both above and below at once. This is merely a means of expression. The subject that I, the artist, am seeking to convey lies elsewhere. I leave that to the viewer’s sensibilities.
● The rejection of notions and the overlapping of perspectives
Title: Bamboo’s Mom’s Nap (1)
Size 50 modified: 1167 x 1098 mm   Digital painting (Adobe Photoshop), 2012
A picture within a picture. The left hand is outside of the picture.
The right and left hands do not share the same space. The photo in the center occupies a space in a different dimension. The left hand is actually the right hand.
The interplay of space emphasizes the illusion. Marlene Dietrich was a silver screen icon from long ago.
● Illusions caused by the intertwining of notions
Title: Marlene Dietrich
Size 50 modified: 1167 x 1098 mm   Digital painting (Adobe Photoshop), 2013
Combine box A and box B. This is not possible in reality, but it is possible in the world of ideas.
● Overlapping of the spaces of notions
Title: Bamboo’s Mom’s Nap (2)
Size 50 modified: 1167 x 1098 mm   Digital painting (Adobe Photoshop), 2014
Stack boxes A and B to create a space of another dimension. The nuns dance and Satan dances.
● Illusions of the Ancient Capital
● Rejection and repeated manipulation of the concept of space
Title: Revelry of the Upāsikās (2)
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1045 mm   Digital painting (Adobe Photoshop), 2019
This is the last piece I produced based on the combination of cubes. This marked the end of my career as an artist.
Perspective A
Perspective B
AD-2023
● Repeated manipulation of the rejection of notions
Title: Revelry of the Upāsikās (2)
Size 80 modified: 1455 x 1045 mm   Digital painting (Adobe Photoshop), 2019
Keisuke Naito, photographed in 2012
My theoretical approach to painting and drawing             Keisuke Naito
It took me quite some time to come to the conclusion that conceptual art is the correlation between notions, actions, and existence.
I also considered conceptual art to be merely a means of expression, primarily for the expression of individuality. Although the act of drawing begins as a sensory-driven process, my work does not truly take shape unless I allow the logic of those notions to run alongside it.
I submit a rejected painting to another competition. Under the same judges, it wins an excellence award.
A work that was rejected 10 years ago wins an award at a new competition.
Had the world caught up with me? Was I simply waiting for my time?
I gained a little more confidence. Now, 50 years later, I’ve been left behind.
Time repeats in a spiral, so I’ll wait for the moment when the world appreciates me once again.
I have no idea what young people are drawing these days. That’s something we were often told when we were young. Differences in perception due to generational differences and the passage of time are unavoidable.
However, among contemporary artists, there are quite a few whose works I find deeply moving. If you look closely, you’ll see that the artists skillfully use drawing techniques based on conceptual logic rather than intuition. And yet, the artists themselves have no knowledge of the history of conceptual art. These days, conceptual art has become like underwear that we wear unconsciously. There are also some self-important artists who wear no underwear at all.
The Buddha is lying down as many people are reaching out their hands. I added three hands to keep the Buddha’s feet away from the center of the canvas. Influenced by the Buddha’s footprints at Yakushiji Temple and images of Nirvana, I deliberately avoided color and went with a unified black-and-white design.
● Not in the style of Western painting, but in my own style
Title: Tranquility of Nirvana Image   Tama Art University graduation work, second place, broadcast on NAK Television.
Size 50 × 2: 2334 × 803 mm   Oil on canvas (later digitally converted to monochrome), 1949
Semi-figurative expression. This was a label spoken with contempt. Rising from defeat — it was also a time of spiritual liberation. My alter egos, some appearing like monks and some like ghosts, cavort, dance, and perform. Painting as I please, going as wild as I want.
● Using Japanese brushes to create Eastern spatial aesthetics
Title: Revelry of the Upāsakas   Exhibited at the 1st Japan Association for Young Artists Exhibition
Size 100P: 1620 x 1303 mm   Oil painting (later digitally adapted), 1947
This work doesn’t use any representational forms. It’s what you’d call abstract expressionism.
In a corner of an old temple lie several battered statues of Buddha with their hands, feet, and heads missing. Over the course of time, these statues of Buddha have witnessed the interactions, the crying, the shouting, and the laughter of many different people. Standing quietly, unspeaking, over many years, until their bodies are worn down.
● Expressing emotions through abstract space
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (1)
Size 80P: 1455 x 970 mm   Oil painting (later digitally adapted)   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
This is an image from my time touring the temples of Nara. Painting and erasing. Erasing and painting. I pick up the shapes that emerge and discard those that don’t suit my sensibilities.
I want to connect with the image, but I keep filling up the canvas. I was fascinated by the footprints of the Buddha’s, images of Nirvana, and Sanskrit scriptures.
● Expression through semi-figurative work
Size 100F: 1620 x 1303 mm   Oil painting (later digitally adapted)   Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (3)   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
As I repeat the process of painting and erasing, erasing and painting, my sensibility to create a painting fades away.
The lines and shapes that remain on the canvas lose all meaning. Though this doesn’t create a picture, the lines and shapes remain. This was the first time that I had had such an experience. This refreshing, relaxing, and pleasant moment.
● The era of Informalism is close at hand
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (4)
Size 80P: 1455 x 970 mm   Oil painting (later digitally adapted)   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
I don’t understand Sanskrit scriptures, and I have no way of knowing the secrets of the Twelve Divine Generals, but Shin Yakushiji Temple is magnificent. I felt great admiration for the Twelve Divine Generals. Integrating Sanskrit characters and the imagery of the Twelve Divine Generals using figurative and semi-figurative expression, I produced my own take on one of the Twelve Divine Generals (Vajra).
● Semi-figurative and semi-abstract expression
Title: Upāsaka (A)
Size 40F: 1000 x 803 mm   Oil painting (later digitally adapted)   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
I mixed sawdust and cement to create a relief. Using memories of my pilgrimage to the ancient temples as a guide, I chisel away, feeling the rocky texture within the tomb of Ishibutai, as the cicadas sing in the mountains of Kasuga. My desire was to fix an Eastern, Japanese sensibility into the concrete.
● My only surviving three-dimensional work
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (2)
Size 30 modified: 910 x 827 mm   Relief (sawdust and cement)   Year of production: unknown (1958?)
I boiled newspaper in soapy water to loosen the fibers and remove the ink, then added starch to produce paper clay. Using a plastering trowel, I apply it to the canvas to create the texture. I then apply white acrylic paint on top of that and then paint over it in a thin black paint. It’s not a matter of what to paint, but what kind of atmosphere I want to create, as I reflect on the inside of the tomb.
● Outdated abstract expression
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (5)
Size 60F: 1303 x 970 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
While Mt. Miwa stands shrouded in mist, the moat around the Hashihaka Tomb appears. I recall old folktales as I establish a space. Between the irregular circles and wavy lines, I imbue this space with the romance of antiquity. Rather than depicting anything concrete, I gather emotion and sensibility through meaningless shapes and lines. Only three days remain of my summer journey through Nara. The song of the cicadas is a lingering farewell.
● Abstract representation of a journey through Nara
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (6)
Size 60S: 1303 x 1303 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
I spread paper clay across the canvas. I intentionally let the marks of the trowel remain. While adjusting the tones of gray and white, I fill the canvas. The irregular circles and curves of various sizes speak to the sensibility of the ancient tombs. Delicate joys and sorrows are depicted in pricks of subtle colors, recalling the life of the one buried within. In this moment, I express my own emotions into a single painting.
● Abstract expression in remembrance of a tomb’s occupant
Size 60F
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (8)
1303 x 970 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
On a summer morning at the Asuka-dera temple, a cool breeze occasionally drifts by. In the farmland to the west stands a small tower of stones. This is the resting place of Soga no Iruka’s head. Without using concrete forms, I embed my personal emotions.
This is the seventh piece in a series of paper clay works. My thoughts drift to a cool mornings in Asuka and the events of the Isshi Incident.
● Abstract expression of association and emotion
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (7)
Size 60 modified: 1303 x 1203 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
Just one day remains of my journey through Nara. My emotions well up — sorrow, reflection. How can I construct this on a flat surface? I draw various shapes, then erase them — erase, then draw again. The decorated tombs of Higo also come to mind. Shapes I couldn’t fully erase overlap one another. Perhaps that is enough — I set down my brush. From today’s perspective, this is outdated abstract expressionism.
● Abstract expression that evokes ancient tombs
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (9)
Size 60F: 1303 x 970 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
This is a small piece, therefore, the composition is expansive.
A single out-of-season hydrangea blooms on a small fragment of a wooden grave tablet.
Who placed it there, in a back alley so barren not even a blade of grass grows?
In my own colors and my own forms, it came together quite nicely.
An unsold piece from a collection of paintings for sale.
● Change — conceptual art is coming
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (10)
Size 30S: 910 x 910 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
Though it’s quite damaged, this is one I can’t bring myself to throw out.
Is it a bulb crawling across barren soil? Or a scorched, blackened burlap sack? No, it’s nothing like that. Please don’t think about it in concrete terms.
Just feel it honestly, as you see it. These amorphous shapes and lines — let them stir something in you.
● Outdated abstract expressionism
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (11)
Size 30S: 910 x 910 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
Please refrain from viewing this piece with such questions as “What is it? What does it depict?” There are no concrete forms depicted here. In combining various amorphous, meaningless shapes, my hope is that you will be able to experience the feeling of a somewhat humorous scene that carries a sense of presence. This is a work that speaks to your sensibilities.
● Abstract expression that relies on sensitivity
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (11)
Size 30S: 910 x 910 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
A dark space spreads out, with various shapes clustered toward the right, forming an unstable composition.
I’m quite fond of this cliff-like arrangement. It’s my attempt to express the emotional impact I felt when I encountered the eerie allure of the cliffside Buddhas of Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita Prefecture. This is the final piece in my journey of pilgrimage to ancient temples and tombs.
●Abstract expression through encounters with the allure of the mysterious
Title: Pilgrimage to Ancient Temples (12)
Size 30S: 910 x 910 mm   Paper clay texturing and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
Ignoring all sense of up, down, right, and left, the space encircled by the girls floats in the vast sky. Even the Obon lanterns hanging from their hands defy gravity. An illogical space dances in the blue sky. The chanting of sutras during the Obon ceremony fades into the distance. No one can tell where this cubic space is headed.
● The rejection of notions and the existence of notions
Title: Obon Festival
Size 60 modified: 1303 x 1203 mm   Canvas and acrylic paint, 1970
A world of daemons — neither abstract nor representational. Not a bright or refreshing space, but one inhabited by beings that seem not of this world. Why do I paint such a scene? Is it because I’m dissatisfied with the society in which I now live? Because I can’t come to terms with it? These forms tell stories — forms never seen before whisper softly.
● Semi-figurative representations of daemons
Title: Upāsaka (B)
Size 60F: 1303 x 970 mm   Canvas and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
In commemoration of Okinawa’s return to Japan, a painting competition was held.
While expressing celebration with the red and white ribbons, I depicted Okinawa as suspended by them — indicating that it yet remains constricted. The piece was soundly rejected for being too socially charged. Bravo. Bravo.
● Expression of meaning through figurative art
Title: Okinawa — Return to Japan
Size 60F: 1303 x 970 mm   Canvas and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
This is a work from a time when I was passionately engaged with the world of Jizo Bon rituals, nuns, infants, and daemons. Six infants dwell within her womb. Is this nun, draped in a ceremonial curtain, an avatar of the Jizo Bodhisattva? These are enigmatic beings of my imagination — entities beyond explanation. This is a dimension beyond theory and consciousness, guided only by sensibility.
● Illusionary memories that transcend logic and consciousness
Title: The Upāsikā Comes (1)
Size 30 modified: 910 x 810 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
These infants cast away by the nun — could they be daemonic fairies? The Jizo Bodhisattva enshrined during the Jizo Bon Festival — might it be a transformation of the Datsue-baba — the Clothes-snatching Hag? The upāsikā casting off her mother-of-pearl robe — has she become a bodhisattva, or a celestial daemon? There is no art theory or ideology to be found here in this moment.
It is a time and space of daemonic essence that transcends theory and consciousness.
● A dimension of daemonic essence beyond theory and consciousness
Title: The Upāsikā Comes (2)
Size 30 modified: 910 x 810 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
This is a small piece that was commissioned by a certain art dealer. A suspended figure — perhaps a doll — is dancing. It’s decidedly not erotic.
Slightly cartoonish, with eroticism restrained and a touch of daemonic eeriness subtly emphasized. The costume is vivid, with complementary colors. The stage is simple and pure.
● Daemonic vitality that surpasses desire
Title: The Upāsikā Comes (3)
Size 30S: 910 x 910 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
Unable to endure the workings of society, she hides in the mountains, she sets out to sea.
The upāsikā becomes a star. She emerges from the darkness of prayer. The moon casts its soft light within an eerie sky.
 The dark night sky is perfectly clear. Perhaps it’s time to vanish — into the dimension of prayer, the realm of daemonic beings, the place where living souls are laid to rest.
● A daemonic dimension, expressed through figurative art
Title: The Upāsikā Comes (4)
Size 30 modified: 910 x 810 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
Is your fortune ominous? The darkness of prayer pierces the angel of lamentation. You, who appears slightly shaken — just what are you? Perhaps the lingering attachments of the upāsikā’s infant to this life? Or perhaps a daemonic living soul that dwells beyond our concept of reality? Enchanted by daemonic beings that dwell outside of consciousness and logic, I pursue them — painting their illusions, erasing, then painting again.
● Semi-figurative expression based on the absurdity of the unconventional
Title: The Upāsikā Comes (5)
Size 30 modified: 910 x 810 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
This is a dimension that is much too difficult to describe in words, so I try to paint it instead.
No, that’s not right. I erase it, then paint again. Gradually, the image takes hold.
A painting cannot be born from theory alone, but a painting without theoretical grounding is even weaker. Were the only survivors the saint’s entrails? Or is this This thing that grows like mold a daemonic being?
● Daemonic presence, semi-figurative expression
Title: The Upāsikā Comes (5)
Size 30 modified: 910 x 810 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
My inexplicable alter egos. Dressed in cursed robes.
The monk’s eyes are blank. The divinatory mudra is bound by thread. Time and space are stolen away by these beings. Can a daemonic dimension be contained within the bounds of common sense?
I don’t simply paint what comes to mind. I paint to search. And in that searching, a method of exploration begins to form.
● Exploration of imagery and abstract expression
Title: Upāsaka (C)
Size 30 modified: 910 x 810 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
The Kongara child murmurs: a spirit has descended. Just who are you? All those who ascended the mountain, leaving me here alone — they are to blame. Are you a daemonic force from the heavens? Or an infant buried in an earthen jar? Whose child is this, dyed in the twilight skies? Guided by emotion and memory, I gather these beings one by one.
● Figurative expression of scenes of remembrance
Title: Upāsaka (D)
Size 60 modified: 1303 x 1137 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
You have been touched by a celestial deity. Farewell, then, to the world of darkness?
In the depths of the earth, faint smiles flicker across every face. The daemonic forces of the heavens kindle the quiet, dusky dawn. Come now — let us journey to Mount Potalaka. Lured by you, who wanders through the skies.
● Figurative expression of passion
Title: Upāsaka (D)
Size 60 modified: 1303 x 1137 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
A cursed sash lies across the ground. A lone upāsikā rises again. Those gathered in the hall below the ground — are they your lost children? The flow of time stains crimson. In the twilight haze, only the nunnery emerges. At the end of a journey in search of the lingering emotions fading in the corners of your heart, I see your hands pressed together in prayer.
● Reminiscence of emotion, figurative expression
Title: Upāsaka (D)
Size 60 modified: 1303 x 1137 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
The Obon ceremony of Jizo Bodhisattva — Jizo Bon night. Walking around the shrines of Ojizo-sama, receiving sweets. Faint memories from childhood return. The long lanterns of the shrines sway in the warm late-summer breeze, as Ojizo-sama weeps. The candlelight of memories and illusion fill the flow of time.
● Figurative expression of memories and illusion
Title: Upāsaka (E)
Size 60 modified: 1303 x 1137 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
Donning a skull mask, a shrine maiden forms an enigmatic mudra. Red blotches cluster and cling to her. I recall this as a ritual from a certain shrine. Who is this deity? What were the praying people so afraid of? The mountain stirs, the river weeps. The connection between daemon and human is carried on waves of emotion.
● Figurative expression of passion
Title: The Leech Maiden Forms a Hidden Mudra and Departs for Hongō
Size 60S: 1303 x 1303 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
This painting is still unfinished. I stopped because I felt that adding more would make it dull. I don’t want to erase it, but I don’t want to keep painting either. There’s something that’s almost become a human, something that’s almost become a bird, something that’s almost become an insect. Lines and shapes beyond consciousness
● Semi-figurative expression of the unconscious
Title: Birth of the Upāsaka
Size 60S: 1303 x 1303 mm   Cardboard and acrylic paint   Year of production: unknown (1967-1969?)
Using newspaper print as a stand-in for the robes of Kannon-sama, I spontaneously painted this standing figure of the Holy Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva with brush and diluted ink. It carries an eeriness, somewhat different from the gentle, compassionate Buddha. I only hope that those who view it can share in the emotion felt by the one who painted it. A sense of enchantment captured in the image.
● Figurative expression of emotion and feeling
Title: Holy Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva
Newspaper   545 × 408 mm   Ink and brush on newspaper   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
An upāsaka (a monk who has not taken full precepts) sets out. Where is he going, walking onward?
His ink-dyed robes, utterly soiled. What is he thinking? Moved by a spark of feeling, I draw spontaneously. The broken tip of my pencil races across the paper. Chasing an elusive daemonic essence leads me to an unexpected encounter with this holy man. I’m glad we met.
● Encountering daemonic essence through figurative expression
Title: The Upāsaka Sets Out
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
This is a completely ordinary drawing. At the request of an acquaintance, I tried to capture her appearance and atmosphere, which I feel I more or less achieved. I placed two figures in the foreground to slightly complicate the composition. I didn’t think about Expressionism, Informalism, Conceptualism, or any other kind of isms. I simply let myself enjoy drawing.
● A completely ordinary drawing
Title: Miss A, in Shibuya
Size 4F: 333 x 253 mm   Canvas and oil paint   Year of production: unknown (1957-1960?)
This is Etsuko Mai, a major star of the Nichigeki Music Hall at the time.
This is an image I captured from her appearance on the TV show 11PM, which I then drew by hand. It’s not something I’d normally include in an art book, but I just wanted people to see it. If you’re a fan of Etsuko Mai, I think you’d want this one, wouldn’t you?
● A piece that isn’t even art
Title: Mai Etsuko-san
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
This is not really something worth including in an art book.
But I wanted to show one of my behind-the-scenes techniques as an artist. This was as a preliminary study for a commissioned piece, sketched while referencing magazines, noting down expressions. Since it’s a rough draft, it’s simply a memory sketch capturing facial expression.
● Capturing expressions swiftly
Title: Croquis (A)
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
This is a copy drawn from a gravure (photo-shoot) magazine. I originally drew this with the intention of using it in one of my works. But in the end, it remained in my scrap file as a draft. I’ve grown quite fond of it, so I’ve decided to include it in this collection of my work. Even when copying something precisely, faithfully, and meticulously, the artist’s individuality still comes through.
● Even in precise imitation, personality emerges
Title: Gravure Magazine Copy (A)
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
This is a small piece that was selected as an illustration for the literary column in the Chunichi Shimbun. In the realm of ideas, things that are impossible in reality can be done with ease.
Why lift a rock? There’s no reason.
● The notion of purpose and its rejection
Title: Moonlit Night — Lifting a Stone
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1990-2000?)
Within twenty-five compartments, the Buddhas are lined up in rows. Some compartments contain the same Buddha.
This is a mandala that belongs to no sect. It is mine, and mine alone. People live through connection, through the help of others. By recognizing and affirming those presences, life takes shape. When I peer into my own heart, there, my mandala resides.
● Affirming my life — my mandala
Title: Mandala — BU.6482
Size 40 modified: 1000 x 950 mm   Acrylic and pencil   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
There is a local custom of gifting gaku-gawara — framed ornamental roof tiles — during the New Year season, with the zodiac animal of the new year carved in relief. This tradition is especially important in my hometown, a production center of Sanshu roof tiles.
This piece is one of twelve original drawings I created for that purpose. To make it suitable for relief carving, the lines are drawn clearly, and the height differences on the surface are emphasized — hallmarks of tile art craftsmanship.
● Original tile art drawing: Year of the Snake
Title: The Arrival of Yatonokami
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
Such a childish, clumsy, poorly drawn picture. Even if you tried to draw something like this, it wouldn’t come easily. It’s a sketch I stumbled upon by chance among the notes for the Apartment Series. I’m fond of its unpretentious simplicity and gentle feel. It might carry more presence than a grand piece I labored over.
● A simple work with strong presence
Title: Asahi-so Apartment
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
A strange character. What standard determines who is strange and who is not? I’ve thought and agonized over it, but I still don’t understand. People who can’t fit into this society. People under the sway of something beyond themselves. They flee into the mountains, then return to the city to beg — false monks who can’t even recite sutras, chanting “Namu.” They insist they are disciples of Gyoki. “Namu Sanbo.”
● This foolish monk is a disciple of Gyoki
Title: Upāsaka (B)
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (2015-2018?)
A sketch left over from a commissioned work. For this art book, I decided to include not only major pieces, but also past works from various genres, as a final summary of my career as an artist If, by chance, something brushes across your mind … A silent sensibility, buried deep within the heart.
● A sensibility that brushes across the mind
Title: Obon Festival (2)
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (2015-2018?)
I was commissioned to paint a piece for sale, but I stopped midway.
Though it’s an unfinished work, I couldn’t bring myself to discard it. In the end, I was attached to this woman. I kept thinking I’d finish it someday. I’ve struggled with expressing the theater curtain and the depth behind it.
● A portrayal of lingering attachment in a painting meant for sale
Title: Croquis (2)
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (2015-2018?)
A preliminary sketch for an illustration within a novel. I submitted several drawings, but none were accepted. A shame. Still, I’ve included one here that I couldn’t bear to discard.
I kept the eroticism to a minimum, aiming instead for a warm, tender feeling.
● Restrained eroticism
Title: Croquis (3)
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (2015-2018?)
This is the original drawing I made as a design for a zodiac roof tile. To make the ornamental tile easier to produce, the lines and surfaces are rendered with clarity, using a style unique to tile design.
The intertwining of the dragon and celestial maiden is a classic motif, deeply rooted in the traditions of the tile-making world.
● A time-honored theme in the tile industry
Title: Dragon God and Shrine Maiden
Size: 280 × 280 mm   Pencil on paraffin paper (reproduction), 2012
This is the original drawing for a zodiac roof tile design for the Year of the Snake. The composition intertwines a serpent and a celestial maiden, rendered with utmost elegance and serenity.
The original was designed to facilitate creation of the ornamental tile. I gave it just a slight hint of S&M.
● A pursuit of serene eroticism
Title: Yatonokami and Shrine Maiden
Size: 280 × 280 mm   Pencil on paraffin paper (reproduction), 2013
This is the original drawing for an ornamental roof tile created for the Year of the Horse. The challenge was how to depict the intertwining of a celestial maiden and a horse. In response to requests from tile manufacturers, I adjusted the composition and expression to suit production needs.
● Original design for an ornamental roof tile
Title: Celestial Horse Flying with Goddess
Size: 280 × 280 mm   Pencil on paraffin paper (reproduction), 2014
This is the original drawing for a zodiac roof tile created for the Year of the Sheep. It depicts a celestial maiden playfully interacting with a sheep. To make the ornamental tile easier to produce, I focused on drawing clear lines and surfaces, while imagining a fantastical world never seen before.
● Fantasy and imagination
Title: Celestial Maiden Frolicking with Sheep
Size: 280 × 280 mm   Pencil on paraffin paper (reproduction), 2015
An aged monkey, wary of losing his peach to a celestial maiden. Since antiquity, peaches have been regarded as a secret elixir for eternal youth and rejuvenation. The celestial maiden, full of compassion for the old monkey, draws near with a gentle gaze. It is a realm of fantasy and imagination.
● Original drawing for a zodiac tile – Year of the Monkey
Title: Celestial Maiden Dancing with the Elder Monkey
Size: 280 × 280 mm   Pencil on paraffin paper (reproduction), 2016
 
This is the original drawing for a zodiac roof tile from the Year of the Rooster. A celestial maiden rests serenely on the back of a rooster. The company that purchased my original drawing at a high price used it to create molds for tile manufacturing, launching it into mass production.
● A once failed artist makes a livelihood as a design illustrator.
Title: Celestial Maiden Descending on a Rooster
Size: 280 × 280 mm   Pencil on paraffin paper (reproduction), 2017
A myth from Mount Miwa, drawn from the Kojiki — the ancient chronicles of Japan.
Long ago, the beautiful Seyadatara-hime was relieving herself in a latrine, when the god Omononushi, having transformed into a vermilion-painted arrow, flowed down the channel and pierced her genitals. Startled, the maiden retrieved the arrow and placed it beside her bed. The arrow then transformed into a splendid man, and the two became husband and wife.
No one has ever depicted this myth in art. This simple fantasy now feels burdensome to us. A commission rejected by a famous painter found its way to me, an unknown artist. I had no choice but to accept. Who placed the order?
● Ancient fantasy
Title: Omononushi no Kami and Seyadatara-hime
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
In Shingon Esoteric Buddhism, there exists a celestial figure known as Kangiten — a deity of bliss. Kukai, founder of Shingon, chose to affirm this teaching. When earthly desire is denied, nothing is born.
People should live as humans. Kukai says, “Be an unfinished Tathāgata — not yet fully enlightened.” The piece sold.
It received a respectable evaluation and price. Namu Butsu.
● A world of desire and illusion
Title: Buddha — Unfinished Tathāgata
Size A4: 297 × 210 mm   Pencil on paper   Year of production: unknown (1948-1958?)
Personal analytical type concept artist Keisuke Naito — Profile (1)
Born in 1936 (Year of the Rat), near Anjo Castle in Mikawa Province, from a family line of poor peasants.
1945 (Year of the Rooster), age 9: Experienced the Tonankai Earthquake and Japan’s defeat in the Pacific War; attended third grade of elementary school.
1954 (Year of the Horse), age 18: Graduated from Aichi Prefectural Kariya High School and entered Tama Art University (graduated in 1959).
1956 (Year of the Monkey), age 20: Two-person exhibition with Masao Tsurumi at Saoh Gallery.
1956 (Year of the Monkey), age 20: Participated in the founding of the Youth Artists Association; exhibited in its first group show at Nihon Gallery in Ginza.
1957 (Year of the Rooster), age 21: Solo exhibitions held in 1957 at Saoh Gallery, 1959 at Kunugi Gallery, 1960 at Muramatsu Gallery, 1966 at Kunugi Gallery, 1967 at Saoh Gallery, and in 1970 and 1971 at Nihon Gallery.
1960 (Year of the Rat), age 24: Exhibited at the Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.
1960 (Year of the Rat), age 24: Chosen for select exhibition at Kunugi Gallery, along with Masao Iwama and Yatsuo Nonaka.
1968 (Year of the Monkey) age 32: Awarded Grand Prize at the 11th Shinsho Exhibition; recommended for Associate Membership.
1969 (Year of the Rooster), age 33: Selected as a member at the 12th Shinsho Exhibition; exhibited annually thereafter.
1973 (Year of the Ox), age 37: Nominated for Japan Art Festival Award; touring exhibition in East Germany (Cologne) and Yugoslavia.
Requested for inclusion in Cologne City Art Museum; given photo feature and accolades in local newspaper. Invited exhibitors: Masuo Ikeda, Nobuo Sekine, and Jiro Takamatsu.
1973 (Year of the Ox), age 37: Selected for Shell Art Award Exhibition.
1973 (Year of the Ox), age 37: Selected for the Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan (Mainichi Newspaper); selected also in 1981 and 1985.
1982 (Year of the Dog), age 46: Selected for the Japan International Art Exhibition (Mainichi Newspaper); selected also in 1988 and 1990.
1984 (Year of the Rat), age 48: Two-person exhibition with Minoru Yamada at Gallery Center Point.
1989 (Year of the Snake), age 53: Received the Excellence Award at the Wakayama Art Grand Prize Exhibition; selected for the Emba Art Award Exhibition.
1991 (Year of the Sheep), age 54: selected for the Emba Art Award Exhibition and received honorable mention in the ABC Illustration Contest.
1992 (Year of the Monkey), age 56: Experimental project — Contemporary Art Exchange Exhibition in Yokohama, held at Kanagawa Kenmin Hall.
1993 (Year of the Rooster), age 57: Served as president of the Shinsho Artists Association for three years (office located in Tabata).
Personal analytical type concept artist Keisuke Naito — Profile (2)
2003 (Year of the Sheep), age 67: Contemporary Art Independent CASO Exhibition at Kaigan-dori Gallery CASO.
2005 (Year of the Rooster), age 69: Received the Mayor’s Award at the Anjo City Art Exhibition; subsequently invited to exhibit annually.
2006 (Year of the Dog), age 70: Exhibited at the 21st Taiwan-Japan International Exchange Art Exhibition.
2007 (Year of the Boar), age 71: Received the Excellence Award at the Toyota Art Exhibition (National Open Competition).
2008 (Year of the Rat), age 72: Selected for the Ryohei Koiso Memorial Art Museum Grand Prize Exhibition; selected again in 2011.
Received the Silver Prize at the Acrylic Art Grand Prize Exhibition. Selected for the Masuo Ikeda Memorial Art Prize Exhibition.
Selected for the Mihama Art Exhibition; selected again in 2011 (exhibitions touring Osaka and Fukui).
Received the Encouragement Prize at the Tamba Art Exhibition; nominated in 2007; selected for exhibition in 2009.
2009 (Year of the Ox), age 73: Selected for the Aoki Shigeru Memorial Art Exhibition; selected again in 2011.
Received the Excellence Award at the 1st National Open Art Exhibition (sponsored by Finesse)
Received the Excellence Award at the Hokuriku Chunichi Shimbun Grand Prize Exhibition; selected in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008
Received the Excellence Award at the Seto Art Exhibition; received the same award again in 2010, 2006, and 2007.
2010 (Year of the Tiger), age 74: At the Ichinomiya City Art Exhibition, received the Mayor’s Award; also received the exhibition award in 2009 and the Board of Education Award in 2012.
Invited to exhibit at the Ichinomiya City Contemporary Art Select Exhibition.
2011 (Year of the Rabbit), age 75: Selected for the Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition; selected again in 2012.
2013 (Year of the Snake) age 77: Exhibited at the 56th Shinsho Exhibition; resigned from the Shinsho Artists Association, independent thereafter.
2014 (Year of the Horse), age 78: Retrospective Exhibition at Philosophy Experience Village Mugaen in Hekinan City.
2015 (Year of the Sheep), age 79: Exhibited at the 58th Shinsho Exhibition after resignation from the Shinsho Artists Association; also exhibited in 2016, 2017 and 2019.
2019 (Year of the Boar), age 83: Received Honorable Mention (Talens Prize) at the 62nd Shinsho Exhibition.
Shinsho Outstanding Selection Exhibition at Gallery Rutan
Hobbies: Table tennis(reached semifinals in the Chubu Japan Championship, 1952); Go – 2nd kyu; reveling in the Giants’ losses.
2023: Art Book Completed
Keisuke Naito — Current address: 4-2-36 Hachiman-cho, Takahama City, Aichi Prefecture
Thank you very much for looking through this collection of my work.
I would be very grateful if you would send me your opinions, thoughts, or other feedback.
Keisuke Naito
4-2-36 Hachiman-cho, Takahama City, Aichi Prefecture 444-1302, Japan
Printing and Binding
Suzuoki Printing Co., Ltd.
5-203 Ikeda-cho, Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture 448-0044, Japan