In Tomoko Nagai's works, various motifs － animals such as bears, cats, and horses; young girls and imaginary figures; and trees and mushrooms － are scattered against backgrounds of forest or rooms which look precisely as if they were theater sets. In all of her works there is a characteristic sense of fulfilment, as if expressing a condensed form of our world. Nagai does not draw before painting, and she uses different media depending on the subject: oil, acrylic, watercolor, color pencil, and pastel, as well as sculptures and installations. This results in various matiere and levels of intensity that seem to each become elements and rhythms, together constituting one music. Nagai's works do not carry any specific narratives. By feeling this music, we somehow enter unawares into her world of stories.
Entitled “The Hairy House in Midsummer”, this exhibition will turn the exhibition space into a room where the artist creates an installation with paintings and drawings in various sizes.

Tomoko Nagai was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1982. She graduated from Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in 2006, majoring in Oil Painting. She currently lives and works in Toyohashi-city, Aichi. She has held three solo exhibitions with Tomio Koyama Gallery, and a solo exhibition at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. She has also participated in "VOCA 2010" at The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, as well as international exhibitions such as “Future Pass - From Asia to the World” Collateral Event of the 54th International Art Exhibition － la Biennale di Venezia (Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana, Venice, 2011), and other group exhibitions in Seoul, Grenoble, and Berlin. She also worked with a project in which she painted the walls of the swimming pool in a nursery school called Toyama nursery school (designed by Takahashi Ippei Office) located in Shichigahama town, Miyagi, one of the stricken areas caused by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The nursery building completed in 2013 was fully funded and supported by Singapore Red Cross. Her works have been included in public collections including The Takahashi Collection (Japan), The Olbricht Collection (Germany), The Zabludowicz Collection (UK) and The JAPIGOZZI Collection (US/Switzerland).