Artist Biography
Kazuhiko Nakamura was born in 1961, in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He started drawing fantastic pictures in his early childhood, and was taught the rudiments by his father.
At the age of 16, he was fascinated by the daydream-like surrealistic paintings of Salvador Dali. He was also strongly influenced by the visionary works of Ernst Fuchs, H. R. Giger, and Hans Bellmer, and started to produce drawings and watercolor paintings.
After graduating from art school, he worked as a designer to earn a living, and suspended his artistic activities. However, he felt a renewed desire for artistic creation, and since 1996 he has been producing 3D art independently in the little free time he has.
Then, he found a possibility of self-expression in digital art.
The world that he creates is characterized by surrealistic portraits composed of a mix of human bodies and machines, from which you can sense the essence of cyberpunk, fetishism, and mannierism. In 2004, his art works were introduced on the world's major 3D art site for the first time. At present, his works are attracting attention via several contests and publications.
Artist Statement
When I was a child, I liked looking at picture books and dictionaries. A variety of images, such as animals, insects, weapons, castles, and machines, grew in my mind, and gradually disappeared with the passage of time. Such images are now like disassembled, outdated toys stored in a repository of memories.
However, they are also raw materials for creation, waiting to be invested with new meaning and to be reconstructed. I glean their fragmentary images, and carefully assemble them like a jigsaw puzzle. During the production process my art works repeat transformation and growth like the ecdysis of insects. Therefore, it is very difficult to predict the image of a completed work, and a lot of time is needed for a work to come to fruition.
Nevertheless, such unpredictable things stimulate my curiosity, and lead to the answer to the complicated puzzle called “art”. This spirit of inquiry may correspond to the passion of amnesiacs in seeking out their lost memories.
Kazuhiko Nakamura
