Joji Nakamura

(Chiba, Japan, 1974 — lives and works in Yokohama)

Joji Nakamura is a Japanese visual artist known for his distinctive painting technique, in which he uses his fingers as his primary tool. By applying acrylic, gesso, graphite, and ink directly to the canvas, Nakamura transforms bodily gestures into visual language: the material becomes an extension of the body, and the act of painting becomes a physical and emotional experience.

His compositions, constructed from dynamic, gestural strokes, transition between portraiture, figurative painting, and surrealist landscapes. In them, the human figure is often reduced to a blurred, abstract silhouette, animated by two small eyes located in the center, which seem to gaze at the viewer and establish an immediate and intimate connection.

While his early works were dominated by a monochromatic palette, in recent years Nakamura has incorporated soft tones and pastel-like nuances, expanding his repertoire to include still lifes and portraits imbued with a subdued and melancholic sensibility. His extruded and distorted faces, formed through rapid, instinctive gestures—in a dialogue between brush and finger—have become one of his most recognizable signatures.

Nakamura has exhibited widely in Japan, France, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Spain, and the United States, participating in both solo and group exhibitions and experimental performances. His work has been presented at Kaplan Projects (Mallorca), The Fridge (New York), Peter Augustus (Dallas), Galerie Mikiko Fabiani (Paris), and Scooters For Peace (Tokyo), among others.

In addition to his artistic practice, he carries out curatorial and editorial work that fosters new generations within the contemporary Japanese scene.