Hen Nakao

Born in Tokyo in 1967. Self-taught.

Rooted in the eros that emerged during adolescence, Nakao has long treated the sensation of

“forbidden play” as the driving force behind his practice. After failing the entrance examination for Tokyo University of the Arts, he found himself outside the sphere of academic authority. Thisexperience became a turning point, leading him to adopt a position from which he could think about painting without being absorbed into institutional systems or hierarchies.

Rather than prioritizing technical refinement, he chose to confront and absorb the difficulties of lived experience. Guided by the belief that once a subject worth painting is discovered, technique will eventually follow, he began his full-fledged career as a painter in 2016 after many years of personal and artistic maturation. Working primarily in acrylic and oil, all of his works are executed entirely by hand.

He deliberately avoids fixing a single style, selecting instead the most appropriate method for each individual work.

At the core of his practice is the consistent depiction of erotic female figures. These figures function not only as symbols of desire, but also as icons that most succinctly represent the human condition itself. Woman and social systems, consumption and power, pleasure and control̶ Nakao entangles these elements, constructing unsettling worlds in which memory, the present, and the near future intersect.

Even when food, clothing, and shelter are secured, humanity continues to pursue convenience and progress. He transforms this absurdity and latent madness into a form of humor that carries both beauty and poison.

To leave the viewer with a subtle sense of discomfort.

To make visible the distortions hidden beneath comfort.

In March 2026, in a new body of work to be presented in Hong Kong, Nakao further examines thestructures of desire embedded within accelerating capitalism. To unsettle the values that viewers have unconsciously accepted̶this is the purpose of his painting.

He re-edits what is called our “crazy” contemporary era through his singular perspective.

What reactions may arise from this remains unknown.

It is precisely this unpredictability that compels him to continue creating.