Minoru Nomata’s Floating Fortress Paintings Evoke Retro-Futuristic Memories At White Cube

MINORU NOMATA’S TIMELESS ARCHITECTURAL LANDSCAPES

Born in Tokyo in 1955, Minoru Nomata (find more here) has spent the last four decades crafting a vocabulary of imaginative architectural and topographical forms, giving rise to paintings that transcend the constraints of time and place. The first part of the exhibition’s title, ‘映遠,’ meaning ‘reflecting distance’ in Japanese, encapsulates the artist’s vision of landscapes where towering architectural structures stand in tranquil grandeur. These structures emerge from low horizon lines, blurring the boundaries between Earth and the cosmos.

Raised in an industrialized neighborhood in central Tokyo, Nomata’s artistic journey reflects a narrative of urban landscape painting. His influences range from the 20th-century ‘precisionist’ painter Charles Sheeler and Bauhaus luminary Lyonel Feininger to the visual dynamics of Op Art and the fluid aesthetics of Symbolism and Art Deco. Inspired by the atmosphere of generative electronic music and the landscapes found in retro-futuristic science fiction in literature and films, Nomata’s monumental structures give the impression of floating or ascending from flat, desolate terrains. They are bathed in a dramatic, directional light, creating a captivating visual experience.

Featured image: Minoru Nomata, Eastbound-3, 1999, acrylic on canvas, 72.9 x 116.8 cm | 28 11/16 x 46 in. © the artist. courtesy White Cube

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