Interview with Makoto Nakane
Photograph taken by Ayako Niki
(Instagram: @247nikiimages)
Q. Welcome to u1 gallery. We are so grateful to be able to interview you.We can never thank you enough. Could you introduce yourself and your works? How did you begin creating art?
A. I am a self-taught oil painter. I started oil painting when I was in junior high school and high school because my mother used to do oil painting.
After graduating from high school, I got married and started raising four children. I was too busy raising four children and couldn’t manage to make the time for myself. Then I stopped painting. However, when I went to the bar that was close by, I was inspired by the wonderful atmosphere of the place, the unique owner, and the various artists and designers who gathered there, and that is when I started oil painting again for the first time in about 20 years.
Q. Could you talk about the process of creating and the way of expressing your work?
A. There is a beautiful cape called Cape Siripa in Yoichi Town, where I was born and raised, and I have loved the scenery since I was a child. Also, I have painted several views of it. I think the series of Cape Siripa is pivotal in my career since I have a strong attachment to it and many people like it.
Q. Could you describe one artwork or series from your oeuvre that you feel it was pivotal in your career?
A. For the work that only uses oil paints, I often start painting without much sketching. I like to express things that I like the way I like. When I paint people, animals, and still life, I try to sketch their eyes carefully to convey their emotions and the strength of their will.
Q. Where do you get the inspiration for your work? I also wonder what helps you when you work?
A. It is from my emotions and what I feel like painting at the time.I think I also get inspiration from mixing paints to create colors during production, or when I place colors on the canvas with a brush or painting knife.
Q. What do you hope that the audience takes away from your art?
A.I wish audiences would feel however they feel about my works. I don’t want to compel my perspective and look at my works in a specific way.
Q. What is your dream project? Could you tell us your plans and aspirations as an artist?
A. I want to express not only the colors and shapes of the motifs as they appear, but also I want to express the colors I feel in my heart more freely with more passion.
Q. Would you like to add something readers should know about you and your art?
A. My career as an artist is still in its infancy, and I am still searching for ways to express myself while painting what I like the way I like.I feel that my style, touch, and many other aspects of my work will continue to change.
However, I would like to continue to express my feelings and passions of the moment in a way that only I could express.
