Manika Nagare, through her multi-layered oil painting, explores and visualizes a realm of sensations evoked from ephemeral moments and events in both the human and natural world. She strives to release her emotions much like nature flows in an irreversible order.
Her use of unmixed multi colors brightens and darkens each space like ice and fire. Her lines flow with smooth but unpredictable rhythm like water. Her light brushstrokes are like a feather caressing skin. In Nagare’s painting, all these evocative elements coexist organically as in nature itself.
From flat to spatial, from visual to tangible, from intellectual to intuitive, Nagare’s work expresses open-ended views. She considers her painting as a two-way mirror to invite the viewer to become immersed in the painted image.
Manika Nagare was born in Osaka in 1975 and raised in Kagawa, Japan. She studied painting at the Joshibi University of Art and Design. She has been exhibiting her work in Japan, the United States, Turkey, and France among other international venues. In addition to painting, Nagare’s work also includes a number of public art projects on which she closely works with curators, designers, architects and community boards. In fashion, her paintings have been applied to textiles as well as costumes for dancers.