Profile

Naoya Egawa

Born in Saitama in 1988. Egawa majored in Japanese traditional painting at Kyoto University of Art and Design. After graduating, he focused on ink paintings, paintings on Japanese fusuma and folding screens. He moved to Nagano in search of the wealth of nature. His representative work, Staying in Snowfield, represents a quiet snowscape in bluish-gray tone with outstanding transparency. Firstly, he applies the foil around the twigs, then shaves it and adds some mineral pigments. By repeating such a detailed process, twigs glitter in the sky and a clear landscape appears. The nature in the painting celebrates its beauty and sublimes into a divine space, giving people calm and peace. In 2019, he won the Encouragement Award at the Yamatane Museum of Art Nihonga Award.