Japan-based artist Nagisa Kamae creates adorable, touching images of small creatures. Rabbits, kittens, puppies, squirrels – Kamae realizes her images perfectly, touching them with a delicate brush of the whimsical. Both magical and moving, her lovely little beings are, she says, “very personal…every piece has a story behind it and a deeper meaning. They come from my experiences and things I observe in everyday life.”
The richness of her work is on view at Gabba Gallery through June 22nd, in a delightful exhibition titled Sharing is Caring.
Kamae started working as an artist full-time in 2017, when she moved from the U.S. back to Japan. “I used to paint on tiny canvases, but I slowly worked my way up to bigger pieces. But then and now, I have always painted cute fluffy animals with food.”
While that description is true as far as it goes, these cute animals are more than she describes. They’re eminently alive, beautifully detailed, and exude the artist’s passion for her subjects.
Her inspiration comes from small animals she finds them at the zoo, pet stores, and even in vintage animal picture books, she says; her accompanying food images are as likely to come from packaging as from vintage cook book illustrations.
“My favorite animal to paint is a rabbit, because I have fond memories of my pet Moko, a grey bunny I had when I was little,” she says. But each of her creations exudes an inherent love and respect, which is part of the attraction of her work. As to the candy images, she swears she doesn’t particularly enjoy the taste of American candies and snacks, but she loves the packaging.
“I used to decorate my room with American items when I was in high school,” she laughs. “I even taped M&M chocolate and gummy worms packages on my wall – I was just obsessed.”
Kamae lived in the U.S. for ten years, and says she never got tired of living here. Among the activities she most enjoyed, “Going to American chain grocery stores, the 99 Cent Store, looking at interesting items in the cereal aisle, and unhealthy looking Jello in the fridge sections – that was one of my guilty pleasures.”
Kamae’s current solo show at Gabba is exciting for her. The gallery has showcased Kamae’s work before, and she has a wide range of American fans, but this is her first solo.
Her heart-meltingly appealing work includes pieces larger than those she’s presented in the past.
“It was intimidating to paint on bigger panels at first, but it gave me the opportunity to explore more complex narratives and new concepts. I feel proud that I could get out of my comfort zone with the bigger pieces.” Kamae’s modesty aside, her charming works are a pure pleasure to take in.
The prolific artist is now planning an illustrated book directed at children of all ages – and art loving readers regardless of age. Her proposed title matches this exhibition: Sharing is Caring.
“The basis for the book, this current painting series, features a group of animals sharing food and a single animal having food by himself. At the end of the book, the animal shares his food with others.”
She adds “My favorite kind of book is a picture book with almost no words, because it leaves more to the imagination and you can create the story using your own interpretation. My favorite book from my childhood is Ennichi, which means Japanese summer festival. This book has no words. but has super-detailed fun images, and the colors are beautiful. I checked this book out over and over again from the local library. Thirty years later, I found it again, and had to buy it immediately.”
In short, she notes “Some people are affected by reading books, but powerful artwork and images have had a more lasting impression on me ever since I was little.”
It was perhaps the same sort of lasting impression her jewel-perfect little animals make on viewers now. One is never too old to take a long look at magic.
Above, artist Kamae.
Gabba Gallery is located at 3126 Beverly Blvd. View Kamae’s work in Sharing is Caring through June 22nd. The gallery is also exhibiting solo shows from Morley, All Things Aspire Madly, and Jeremy Novy, A Queer Examination.
- Genie Davis; photos courtesy of the artist