Opening Reception：07.12 Sat. 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

LOKO GALLERY is pleased to present PHASE, a solo exhibition by Hiroyuki Nakatsugawa, an artist based in Nagano Prefecture.
Nakatsugawa’s practice centers on the medium of oil painting, in which he utilizes its tactile qualities to explore the transformative nature of light and color upon a single plane. His primary subject matter draws from the landscapes of Nagano, where he spent his childhood—the skin of mountains, the play of light on water, and the forms of trees and flora are distilled into abstract gradients of vivid color to be presented to the viewers.
The exhibition invites viewers to witness Nakatsugawa’s ongoing endeavor to translate the mutable essence shaped within the flow of time into painterly form.

Hiroyuki Nakatsugawa’s body of work revolves around the theme of transition. Through oil painting, he renders diverse elements from the natural world, such as landscapes, vegetation, and minerals.
Among his notable recent projects is the Transition series, wherein thickly built-up oil paint creates a relief-like surface—the effect alters depending on the viewer’s position, evoking a lenticular illusion where color shifts with movement. In the Reflection series, he composes luminous water surfaces through countless layered dots, each capturing fleeting glimmers of light. Meanwhile, the Impression series juxtaposes mountains or seascapes drawn from his inner landscape, organizing them into patterns that express multiple temporalities. Across all these series, Nakatsugawa employs original, self-developed techniques to inscribe nature’s transience onto a singular, static plane.
What distinguishes Nakatsugawa’s approach is his commitment to representing nature not as a fixed image but as a “phenomenon”. While time is commonly segmented into hours, seasons, and years, sceneries of nature essentially flow as experiences that cannot be measured by such man-made standards—the violet hue that emerges just as twilight descends, the brief flutter of a forest reflection rippling on a breeze-kissed pond, or the moment when cherry blossoms give way to the glossy green of new leaves. These experiences appear before us as an event to be received with surprise and joy, which defies existing concept of time. What Nakatsugawa attempts to depict is not about generalities such as “morning” or “evening”, nor “seasons”—it is about the very moment one’s heart has been moved by the flow of phase.

Rather than idealizing a “distant elsewhere,” Nakatsugawa roots his gaze in the present, faithfully translating the subtlest fluctuations of the here-and-now through his own embodied perception. In doing so, his practice offers a resistance to the value systems increasing its simplification propagated by contemporary digital media. His work invites us to reconsider how we attend to the world around us, reminding us of the richness inherent in the real.

Natsuki Iwadare
Art Critic / Assistant Curator, Tokyo Arts and Space

Hiroyuki Nakatsugawa　CV

Biography
Born in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan, 1987
2010 – BFA in Oil Painting Tokyo University of the Arts
2013 – MFA in Oil Painting Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School

Group Exhibitions
2025　“Purge”, America Bridge Gallery, Ebisu
2024　D-Art, Daimaru Sapporo Store
2024　D-Art, Daimaru Umeda Store
2023　Art In Tokyo YNK, Kyobashi Brillia Art Gallery
2023　ART TAINAN 2023, Tainan Art Fair
2023　Art In Tokyo YNK, Kyobashi Square Garden
2022　“KIZASHI” , Ishikawa Gallery, Ginza
2022　ARTARTOsaka , Daimaru Umeda
2022　“Bright” , YOSEIDO Gallery, Ginza
2021　“Diversity” , WHATCAFE, Tennoz Isle

Solo Exhibitions
2025　“Phase”, LOKO GALLERY, Tokyo
2025　“Time Gradation” , RA Art Gallery, Yokohama
2024　“Colors of Impermanence” , WABI Gallery, Ginza
2024　“Colors of Impermanence” , RA Art Gallery, Yokohama
2023　“Crystallized Memories” , Alps Coffee Lab, Matsumoto
2023　“Crystallized Memories” , RA Art Gallery, Yokohama
2022　“Time × Mosaic” , Kobe Oriental Hotel Meriken Park
2022　“Time × Mosaic” , RA Art Gallery, Yokohama
2022　“Hiroyuki Nakatsugawa Exhibition”, Inoue Department Store, Matsumoto
2021　“Paintings of Light” , Inoue Department Store, Matsumoto
2018　“Lumineux” , Ginza Gallery Kubota

Art Fair Exhibitions
Art Fair Tokyo 2022, FAT Collection Booth
Art Fair Tokyo 2021, FAT Collection Booth
Shanghai Art Fair 2019

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