Nick West was born in 1976 in Brighton, UK. He studied Fine Art at the Kent Institute of Art & Design in Canterbury, specialising in Graphic Fine Art. After art school, he moved to London where he worked until 2010 when he relocated to Japan. He lives and works in Tokyo.
Recent / Forthcoming Exhibitions
Spring 2018 States of Mind, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ueno, Tokyo. TBC
Oct. 2017 Art Byte Critique at the Tokyo Art Book Fair 2017, Tokyo.
Aug. 2017 Volumes at ONCA, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Apr. 2017 – present. Subway, Tacchi Studios, Shibuya, Tokyo.
Mar. 2017 Surface(s), Nishimachi Artist Space, Azabu-Juban, Tokyo.
Sep. 2016 Art Byte Critique at the Tokyo Art Book Fair 2016, Kita-Aoyama.
Projects
Jul. 2017 – present. Begun Canvas Artist Talks with a community of artists based in Tokyo.
Mar. 2015 – present. Formed a website about contemporary art of and in Japan. www.gensojapan.org
Dec. 2015 Reviewed the 2015 Nissan Art Award for iki-mono-arts.com
Sep. 2015 Presented a talk on murals in and around Tokyo at Pecha-Kucha Night Vol.128.
May. 2013 – present. Contributed various articles and reviews. www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/
Apr. 2004 Curated an exhibition of Sam Frith’s work at the Sky Gallery, Kumamoto, Japan.
Sep. 2003 – 2009 Participated in the installation of Tate Modern’s Unilever Series in the Turbine Hall.
Jun. 2003 Created a collaborative online writing project at The Empire Gallery, London.
Jun. 2000 – Dec. 2002. Established an art studio for 12 creatives called Kingsbury Street Studios, Brighton.
Other
Nov. 2015 Nick’s research on public art was cited in Fram Kitagawa’s Art Place Japan (p171)
Apr. 2003 Interviewed at the Royal College of Art London for MA Curating Contemporary Art.
Nov. 2002 Published a story about anonymity for a Slade Art School journal.
Jun. 1999 For his degree at KIAD, Nick received a commendation for his dissertation.
Collections
Nov. 1998 An Advanced Publishing Project (Graphic Fine Art) at the British Library.
Publications
Genso: Selected Posts
Jul. 2017 On Drawing, An interview with Arthur Huang on the practice of drawing.
Dec. 2016 Suburbia at Night, Tomoyuki Sakaguchi, from the photo-book ‘Home’ (2007)
Dec. 2016 Lunchbox Paintings, Makoto Aida, ‘Lunchbox Paintings’ at Mizuma Gallery (2016)
Dec. 2016 Tokyo Supergraphics, Minoru Takeyama, Stephen Powers, Terada Design, Felice Varini, Kenta Kaido, Takashi Murakami and Tamaki Architectural Atelier.
Nov. 2016 The Locked Room, Chiharu Shiota, from ‘The Locked Room’ at KAAT, or Kanagawa Arts Theater in Yokohama (2016)
Oct. 2016 In Rainbows, Olafur Eliasson ‘Sunspace for Shibukawa’(2009) Hara Museum ARC.
Sep. 2016 Postcard from Setouchi, Minouk Lim, Sou Fujimoto, Makoto Aida, Haruki Takahashi, Tobias Rehberger, Tadanori Yokoo, Oscar Oiwa, and Lin Tianmiao.
Aug. 2016 Shibuya Sticker Bombs, Photo survey of a visual subculture (2016)
Jul. 2016 Ceramic Grenades, Emiko Kasahara, ‘K1001K’ at Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Culture’, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (2015)
May. 2016 Counter Void, Tatsuo Miyajima, ‘Counter Void’ in Roppongi, Tokyo (2003)
Oct. 2015 In the Fog, Fujiko Nakaya, ‘Fog Sculptures’ (1970 – present)
Sep. 2015 Ship of the Zipper, ’Ship of the Zipper’, Yasuhiro Suzuki, Setouchi Triennale (2010)
Jun. 2015 Jikken Kobo, An introduction to Jikken Kobo (1951-58) Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, Kuniharu Akiyama, Joji Yuasa, Toru Takemitsu, Kazuo Fukushima, Keijiro Sato, Hiroyoshi Suzuki, Takahiro Sonoda, Noaji Imai, Kiyoji Otsuji, Tetsuro Komai, Shozo Kitadai, Hideko Fukushima and Hideo Yamazaki.
Apr. 2015 #BCTION, A Pop-up Exhibition, Tokyo. (2014) Soh (THA), Whole9, Hizji, Borutanext5, Mao Simmons, Aruta Soup, Meguru Yamaguchi, Mami Kamizato, Jun Inoue, Toru Matsushita, Syunoven, Hideyuki Katsumata and Kenta Kaido.
Mar. 2015 Matrix, Teshima Art Museum, Rei Naito & Ryue Nishizawa, Teshima (2010)
Mar. 2015 Borrowed Signs , Kengo Nakamura at Megumi Ogita Gallery, Tokyo (2015)
Mar. 2015 Control Room, Thomas Demand,’Control Room’ at MOT (2012)
Mar. 2015 Picture Consequences, Naoyuki Tsuji, ‘A Trilogy about Clouds’ (2005)
Mar. 2015 A Liberty Statue for Tokyo, Pipilotti Rist ‘A Liberty Statue for Tokyo’ (2009)
Mar. 2015 Pixel Works, Couch (Hiroki Miyazaki & Reiko Asao) at Nakanojo Biennale (2013)
Mar. 2015 You-I, You-I, Yuken Teruya ,’You-I, You-I’ (2008)
Mar. 2015 Word Perhect, Tomoko Takahashi, ‘Word Perhect’(2000)
Tokyo Art Beat: Selected Articles
Mar. 2017 Different Circles, Ei Arakawa presents Gutai as musical theatre at Taka Ishii Tokyo.
Aug. 2016 100 Years of Dada, Tokyo celebrates the centenary of the Dada art movement.
Apr. 2016 Masaharu Sato – “Tokyo Trace”, Charting a city frame by frame.
Nov. 2015 From Light to Craft, Masato Nakamura bears witness to a substantial branch of Japanese contemporary art history with his first major solo show in 10 years
May. 2015 A View from the Couch, Psychiatrist Dr. Takahashi’s collection goes on display.
Feb. 2015 Living Forever, Taking a tour of the Reversible Destiny Lofts by Arakawa & Gins.
Sep. 2014 Yokohama Triennale 2014, Highlights from the major art festival.
Jul. 2014 Public Art Series #8: Kimiyo Mishima’s Trashcan, A giant wastepaper basket by ceramicist Kimiyo Mishima stands proud within a busy Shinagawa transport hub.
Jun. 2014 Public Art Series #7: Taro Okamoto’s Myth of Tomorrow, Taro Okamoto’s “Myth of Tomorrow” greets millions of commuters at Shibuya Station each day.
Feb. 2014 Public Art #5: Daniel Buren’s “25 Porticos”, Buren’s vertically striped gateways stand amid the grand concrete structures of Odaiba.
Oct. 2013 Rebirth and Infinity, Interactive works by Mariko Mori at Louis Vuitton Espace.
Sep. 2013 Public Art #4: Faret Tachikawa, The fourth in a series about public art in Tokyo takes a wander through Tachikawa’s collection of public art projects.
Aug. 2013 Looking Skyward, Artist and aviator Kazuhiko Hachiya exhibits his latest creation.
Jul. 2013 Public Art #3: Louise Bourgeois’ Maman, The third in a series about public art takes a look at the gigantic spider sculpture within the Roppongi Hills complex.
Jun. 2013 Public Art #2: Masatake Kouzaki’s Tougen, Anjin, Masatake Kozaki’s illuminated mural at Daikanyama T-Site is the subject for the second piece in a series about public artworks in Tokyo.
May. 2013 Public Art #1: Roy Lichtenstein’s Tokyo Brushstrokes, Lichtenstein’s Tokyo Brushstroke I & II feature in a new series about Tokyo’s public art projects.
Associations
Mar. 2016 – present PoNJA, New York: http://www.ponja-genkon.net/AboutPoNJA.html
Sep. 2015 – present Art Byte Critique, artist collective, Tokyo: https://atobaito.wordpress.com
Mar. 2015 – present Genso / 元素 Art of and in Japan, www.gensojapan.org
May 2013 – present Tokyo Art Beat, http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/author/nick_west
References
Sue Carney MARCA, BA Fine Art Course Leader, Kent Institute of Art & Design, Canterbury, Kent.
Dr. Pete Nevin MARCA, Graphic Fine Art Leader, Kent Institute of Art & Design, Canterbury, Kent.
