野村耕 -Nomura Ko || SCREAMING LOTS OF DIFFERENT SONGS

February 3, 2026

Collection Exhibition 2026

"Nomura Ko -SCREAMING LOTS OF DIFFERENT SONGS"

2026.02.28 - 06.01

This exhibition traces the creative trajectory of Nomura Kō (1927–1991), an artist who forged a distinctive practice by moving between what was inherited and what was newly born within postwar Japanese art.
Born and educated in Kyoto, where the traditions of Japanese-style painting (Nihonga) remain deeply rooted, Nomura began his career at a young age. In 1950, shortly after the war, he joined the avant-garde collective Panreal Art Association, founded by artists of his own generation, and began seeking forms of expression that moved beyond established conventions of Japanese painting. While his early works often feature fantastical figurative imagery, Nomura gradually turned toward more fundamental questions: What does it mean to paint? Can materials themselves become a form of expression?

From the late 1950s through the 1960s, Nomura incorporated an unexpected range of materials into his works—cement, slate, industrial debris, newspaper printing plates, and stencils used in textile dyeing—materials rarely seen in Japanese painting at the time. These experiments, highly radical within the context of Nihonga, challenged the very boundaries of painting. From the 1970s onward, his practice expanded further into three-dimensional works and spatial compositions, moving beyond the flat picture plane. Grounded in tradition yet steadily pushing against its limits from within, Nomura’s work is marked by a quiet but persistent spirit of experimentation.

Alongside his work as an educator, Nomura continued to produce and present new works every year. His refusal to repeat himself, and his constant exploration of new materials and methods, became the driving force behind his artistic practice. This sustained commitment was reaffirmed in 1989 with a major retrospective at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (now Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art), which brought renewed attention to his achievements.
The exhibition presents approximately 60 works, centered on Nomura Kō and including works by fellow members of the Panreal Art Association, with important loans from collectors and the artist’s family. Featuring collages, frottage, watercolors, and mixed-media works produced from the 1950s through the 1980s, the exhibition invites visitors to experience the transformations of twentieth-century Japanese art and discover their enduring richness and appeal.

On April 18, KURA MONZEN Gallery will present a special addition to its ongoing exhibition of the life-work of Nomura Kō: a newly introduced series of approximately 30 monotype works created around 1960.

Acquired directly from the artist’s family, these exceptionally rare works offer a fleeting and intimate glimpse into a pivotal moment in Nomura’s practice. Each piece stands as a testament to his lifelong refusal of repetition—an uncompromising commitment to transformation and experimentation.

Monotype, by its very nature, resists duplication. Pigment is applied to a surface and transferred to paper in a single, irreversible gesture. What emerges is a record of both intention and accident—an image that can exist only once. In these works, Nomura engages this immediacy with striking clarity, allowing material, motion, and chance to converge in unrepeatable moments.

The exhibition will run from February 28th to June 1st. We hope you are able to stop by the gallery or check out the collection and catalogue online!

[Digital Catalog]
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