White Landscape 1953

Kazuo Nakamura made this painting, called White Landscape, with simple marks on a white ground. It's almost like he's thinking about how artmaking is like a journey, a process of discovery. The painting has this cool, stark feel, right? The surface isn't about hiding anything. You can see the scratchy lines, the way the ink or paint skips and jumps. It’s all about the physical act of mark-making. Look at those little clusters of vertical lines, repeated throughout the image. They're like tiny buildings or maybe trees in the distance, or standing figures, each one a bit wobbly and imperfect. They remind me of Agnes Martin’s grids. Nakamura isn't trying to fool us. This painting feels more like a sketch, or maybe a memory fading in and out. Art isn't about answers; it's about the questions we ask and the spaces we create.