Kohei Nawa

Short Bio

Kohei Nawa is a Japanese artist. He received a B.A. in Fine Art Sculpture from the Kyoto City University of Arts in 1998, and a Ph.D. from the same institution in 2003, before studying sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London. A professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, he is famous for his PixCell series. His works include found objects such as taxidermized deer covered with multiple layers of glass beads, prisms, glue, plaster, and spray foam, as well as other medium, ranging from drawings, oil paint, UV laser to collaborations with Kyoto traditional craftsmen.

Kohei Nawa is also the director of Sandwich, a creative platform he established in Kyoto in 2009, dedicated to the development of experimental and multidisciplinary projects leading to large scale public art installations, interior design projects, architectural works and stage creations. Constantly exploring new creative territories, Nawa works with a wide range of materials and technologies, prompting him to expand the interpretation of sculpture and the borders of visual art, to better address contemporary challenges through new artistic experiences of space and environment. In 2011, he presented “Kohei Nawa-Synthesis”, a solo exhibition at the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art. While his work is present in the collections of major international museums, one of his most recent monumental works, “Throne", was exhibited at the Louvre Pyramid in 2018-2019, in the context of the cultural season Japonismes. The following year, he recreated his work Biomatrix on the Lady Dior bag.

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