Michael Werner Gallery, London is pleased to present Maki Na Kamura: Desert Incognito, an exhibition of new paintings by Osaka-born, Berlin-based painter Maki Na Kamura.
In her new work, Na Kamura questions how the concept of abstraction evolved over time. According to Na Kamura, painters historically did not categorise themselves as abstract or figurative, and painting seamlessly blended elements of both. In the 1950s and 1960s, a division arose between figurative and abstract painters, with abstractionists feeling the need to define themselves. Like the abstract artists of the mid-20th century, Na Kamura is a formalist, deeply concerned with composition, structure, texture, shape, form, and colour. However, her approach to abstraction is not dogmatic. Her primary goal is to transcend abstraction, which she does by using figuration as the basis for her exploration of the formal properties of painting. Figures serve as compositional elements, creating structure and adding rhythm.
Na Kamura also asks: what is fashionable in art today, and what is traditional? Finding the current art world to be dominated by political and ideological art, Na Kamura views painters, such as herself, who are concerned first and foremost with paint on canvas, as avant-garde. In this new exhibition, the artist challenges and expands our understanding of what abstract art can be in the 21st century.
Maki Na Kamura studied at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. She has been included in numerous exhibitions across the world. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Michael Werner Gallery in New York and London (2023); Galerie Michael Werner in Berlin (2023); Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin (2023, 2021 & 2017); Galerie Bernd Kugler in Innsbruck (2022); and ANOMALY in Tokyo (2019). Museum solo exhibitions have been held at Museum Dhondt- Dhaenens in Deurle, Belgium (2017); Osthaus Museum Hagen in Hagen, Germany (2017); Bilbao-Arte – centro de arte contemporáneo in Bilbao, Spain (2015); Oldenburger Kunstverein in Oldenberg, Germany (2014) and Museum Haus Kasuya in Yokosuka, Japan (2011). Na Kamura was awarded the Falkenrot Prize in 2013. Na Kamura lives and works in Berlin.
Maki Na Kamura: Desert Incognito opens to the public on Friday 16 May with a private view on Thursday 15 May from 6-8pm. The exhibition will remain on view through the summer. A full-colour catalogue with text by Dr. Flavia Frigeri, Curatorial and Collections Director at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the poem Desert Incognito by Maki Na Kamura, will accompany the exhibition.