Naoto Nakagawa was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1944 and studied fine art at Osaka Art University. In 1962, inspired by an exhibition in Osaka of works by American artists, he emigrated via freighter to New York. There he studied at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art, and his work was first exhibited in the avant-garde exhibitions at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village in 1968.

Nakagawa's recent solo exhibitions have been at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, Davidson College in North Carolina, the Nielsen Gallery in Boston, Victoria Munroe Fine Art in New York City, Tamada Projects Co. in Tokyo, Japan, and Gallery Holly Snapp in Venice, Italy.

“Forest of Eden” by Naoto Nakagawa

Earlier solo exhibitions of his paintings have been mounted at OK Harris Gallery, New York, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, and Kasahara Gallery, Osaka. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions at, amongst others, the Allen Frumkin Gallery, New York, Reece Paley Gallery, New York, and the Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago. His work has been included in museum exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum Soho, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art & Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Oakland Museum, San Antonio Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Tucson Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Japan Society Gallery, New York, Museo Calouste Gulbenkian, Portugal, Salas de Esposiciones de Bellas Artes, Spain, Nurenberg Kunsthalle Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Germany, and in Japan at the Fukuoka Art Museum, Kyoto Museum of Modern Art, and Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, amongst others.

Nakagawa's work is included in many public and private collections, among them the New York Museum of Modern Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Worcester Museum, the Lester Avnet Foundation, Bell Telephone Company, Frederick Weisman Collection, Morgan Stanley Company, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Spencer Foundation, the National Museums of Modern Art in Kyoto and in Osaka, Fukuoka Art Museum, Osaka City Museum, Choritsu Kakunodate Museum, Fukuyama Museum, Meguro Museum, Oita City Museum, and the Takamatsu Museum.

In 1976 Naoto Nakagawa was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant. He has taught at Columbia University, Parsons School of Design, and Windham College. He has been a guest lecturer and panelist at various universities, the New York Japan Society, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the New York Museum of Modern Art, and on Manhattan Cable Television, National Public Radio, and Fuji Television, Japan.