Track of Colors #1
We are thrilled to announce the recent acquisitions of Tokyo-based artist Manika Nagare's work by two American university museums; Michigan University Museum of Art and Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon.
Through her efforts as a painter of light/color, Nagare (b. 1975) seeks to illuminate historically little-known Japanese female artists of the last centuries. In Japan, the work of these artists was often acquired by institutions only because they were the spouse of a famous male artist. Since 2020, Nagare has found nine such works in multiple Japanese museums, traced the colors used by the artist in each piece, and layered them one by one each day onto a new canvas. All nine works from Track of Colors #1 & #2 (2022/2023) are the same height (20 ½ in / 52 cm), arranged linearly and forming a kind of color code, presenting the viewer with the vanishing footprints of female artists neglected in official art history.
During our participation in Asia Week New York 2024, the curators of both museums visited Nagare's solo exhibition we featured then and met the artist; their deep appreciation of Nagare's new research-based work touching the gender issue led to these acquisitions.
