Early Years

Early Years

Masaaki Yamada
Takeo Yamaguchi
Kengo Nakamura
Yoshimasa Tsuchiya

A group exhibition featuring distinctive artists who have shaped post-war art in Japan, from deceased to contemporary ones, will be held. This exhibition showcases their early works, revealing curiosity and simple charm as they explored unique expressions while influenced by predecessors.

MEGUMI OGITA GALLERY is pleased to present the group exhibition “Early Years”. This exhibition brings together early works by deceased artists, or pieces from the period when they began establishing their unique expressions within post-war art in Japan, as well as early works by contemporary artists. It focuses on the common thread of curiosity and simple charm in their works, created before the artists reached their refined stylistic beauty. On display are: Still life paintings by Masaaki Yamada, created just before the disintegration of painting and the loss of figurative form; Early landscape with red contour lines by Takeo Yamaguchi, alongside abstract expressions in brown, ocher, and black; From Kengo Nakamura’s “Speech Balloon” series, which composes the painting with manga speech balloons, Japanese paintings retaining his hand-drawn texture of outlines; Wood carving by Yoshimasa Tsuchiya, who has sculpted animals since his student days, carrying a wild atmosphere distinct from the current serenity. We hope you will see the budding creativity of these timeless artists.

Masaaki Yamada (1929–2010) was born in Tokyo, Japan. He began painting as a self-taught artist after graduating from Tokyo Metropolitan College of Technology, producing approximately 5,000 works throughout his lifetime. He exhibited at the 1st Yomiuri Indépendant Exhibition held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in 1949, participated in the Jiyu Bijutsuka Kyokai Exhibition from 1950, and held a solo exhibition at the Fuchu Art Museum in 2005. He also gained international recognition, exhibiting at the Guggenheim Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1994. Following his death, major retrospective exhibitions (2016-2017) were held at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, bringing renewed attention to his work. Admiring Paul Cézanne, who pioneered modern painting by eliminating narrative elements, Yamada distanced himself from traditional conventions and trends of the time, aspiring to bring repetitive order to his own artistic world. He depicted bottles embodying emptiness and fruits representing fulfillment in his “Still Life” series, stemming from memories of war and illness. His forms gradually became abstract, evolving into the “Work” series, which evenly composed colors through geometric patterns, and the “Color” series, which he layered the canvas with a single color.

Takeo Yamaguchi (1902–1983) was born in Seoul, South Korea. He moved to Tokyo, Japan in 1921 and enrolled in the Western painting department of the Tokyo University of the Arts the following year. After graduating in 1927, Yamaguchi met the painter Yuzo Saeki, who was returning to Japan, and followed him to France. Then he came to know artists such as Ossip Zadkine there. He exhibited for the first time at the Nika Art Exhibition after returning to Japan in 1931. He continued exhibiting after the war until 1962 as a member of the Nika Association. He participated in the 18th Annual Exhibition of American Abstract Artists in 1954 as a member of the Japan Abstract Art Club. He also exhibited at numerous international shows, including the Venice Biennale in 1956 and the Guggenheim International Exhibition in 1958, becoming a pioneer in Japanese abstract painting. In Japan where many Western-style painters confined to imitating Western art, Yamaguchi prioritized organicity, capturing the essence and structure of his subjects, over external realism, pursuing his own indigenous primal landscapes. His works, evoking warmth and nostalgia, are highly regarded as uniquely abstract expressions.

Kengo Nakamura was born in Osaka, Japan in 1969. He studied Japanese painting at Tama Art University and its graduate school. He has created unique paintings with motifs representing contemporary society, such as emoticons in email, manga speech balloons, and character silhouettes. As his international reputation grew, Nakamura held his first solo exhibition in Taiwan at AKI Gallery and also exhibited in “Scenery in Mock-up” at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts in Taipei in 2021. Having explored connections between pop culture and traditional painting techniques in the 1990s, Nakamura’s focus has recently shifted towards the relationship between Japanese culture including East Asian influences and modern painting. New series include Hiragana Painting, “Ego Mandala”, “○△□” from Shinbun Itchi, Modern Lovers and JAPANS.

Yoshimasa Tsuchiya was born in 1977. He studied sculpture at Tokyo University of the Arts, completing his PhD in Sculpture Conservation at the graduate school in 2007. Drawing upon his experience with ancient sculptures during his graduate studies, Tsuchiya has challenged himself with traditional techniques and innovative expression. He has held solo exhibitions in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Germany, and a solo exhibition “Yoshimasa Tsuchiya - Beyond the Tranquility” at Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design in 2025, growing popularity and acclaim both in Japan and abroad. Tsuchiya is known for his symbolic sculptures, which embody thoughts with the forms of living creatures. He has established a unique painting method where pale colors emerge from beneath the surface of wood carvings. Furthermore, employing a technique similar to that for Buddhist statues, he inserts glass or crystal eyes from within the head, creating works with mystical expressions.