Nobuhito Nishigawara

Patricia Sweetow Gallery is pleased to welcome Japanese artist Wakana Kimura in her first solo exhibition with the gallery, Journey to the West: Alien of Extraordinary Ability.

The classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, attributed to Wu Cheng’en, is a tale of pilgrimage, hardship, and loss. It tells the story of the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang, who travels West to gather sacred texts, encountering many challenges and enduring great suffering throughout their passage. Tang Sanzang is not alone on this pilgrimage; he has guardians to protect as well as demons to obstruct. This legendary tale parallels the 7th-century Buddhist monk Xuanzang, whose travels to the Western regions (India) took 17 years, resulting in a collection of original Sanskrit texts conveyed to China on the backs of scores of mules.

We are excited to announce the late, but welcome addition to the current exhibition, Nobuhito Nishigawara. On view are thirteen stunning ceramic sculptures from his current series, Qualia.

Drawing from his immigrant experience, Nobuhito Nishigawara hand-builds ceramic sculpture to release sensorial and emotional aspects of experience. The current series, Qualia, explores the dual cultural forces of Japan and North America that shape his relationship to identity. From his childhood in Japan to moving to North America to attend school as a young man, he recalls “suppressing emotions to fit in.” Through the complex gestural forms of his sculpture, Nishigawara offers himself a refined elegant conduit for all that is withheld.

Nobuhito Nishigawara was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1974. He currently holds the position of Professor and Head of Ceramics, Visual Arts Department, California State University, Fullerton. Recent exhibitions include Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles, and the Trophy Room, Los Angeles.