Rakuko Naito

(Japanese, born 1937)

untitled (burnt edge swirl) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Burnt edge swirl), 2020

28,000 USD

untitled (coils) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Coils), 2021

22,000 USD

untitled (cotton ball) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Cotton ball), 2016

28,000 USD

untitled (fan) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Fan), 2021

28,000 USD

untitled (checker board open/close) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Checker board open/close), 2020

18,500 USD

untitled (double ring inside burnt edge) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Double ring inside burnt edge), 2019

28,000 USD

untitled (soft ring with cotton ball) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Soft ring with cotton ball), 2020

18,500 USD

untitled (small triangle checker board) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Small triangle checker board), 2020

18,500 USD

untitled (soft tall rings) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Soft tall rings), 2018

22,000 USD

untitled (open top checker board) by rakuko naito

Rakuko Naito

Untitled (Open top checker board), 2018

22,000 USD

Biography

Timeline

Nature is a sublime engineer. She is both mathematician and inventor. So, too, is Rakuko Naito. Her simple yet rarified arrangements of ordinary materials are painstakingly built through procedural tasks that transform her sheets of paper or strips of wood into elegantly formed and seemingly very rational systems. Yet as in nature, it is the nuances of her materials that catch the eye: the ever so slightly burnt edge of paper to suggest color, the subtle twist on the end of a ball of cotton to suggest growth, or the jagged fold of paper that implies movement. For the past decade, Naito has been hard at work on delicate, monochromatic assemblies of materials. Naito’s repetition of actions, decisions, and manipulated forms is the basis for her refined works. Through her intuitive process she creates a harmonious balance and pattern of a chosen material always set within the limits and confines of white painted rectilinear boxes or frames. The frame sets the boundaries in which she can think and work. As a result of her innate methodology, Naito has found a unique class for her ideas somewhere between our notion of “drawing" and “sculpture". Naito’s intimate abstractions place her in the company of an illustrative group of modern and contemporary artists such as Manzoni from Italy, Jan Schoohoven from the Netherlands, and Franz Erhard Walther from Germany who also have experimented with and explored the structure of materials in similar formats and with equal rigor. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Naito studied at the Tokyo National University of Art. After her graduation, in 1958, she moved to New York, where she has lived and worked ever since. Rakuko is represented across the United States in numerous galleries and public collections including the Kemper Art Collection (Chicago), The Larry Aldrich Museum (Ridgefield, CT), and the Ro- land Gibson Art Foundation (SUNY Potsdam).