Michiya Nakao

The calligraphic aspects of Abstract Expressionism owe something - perhaps everything - to Japanese Art. Yet, here comes Michya Nakao, a Japanese born painter who bucks tradition by taking his cue from Abstract Expressionism. Not all the time, though, for some of the artists forms reflect his own tradition and in his view, the contradiction does too. Observers accustomed to the influence of the East on Western art are liable to see the reverse as a sign of conflict or, at the very least, perversity. In Nakao's case however, it signifies, he says, willingness to go with the flow, a trait that he regards as innately Japanese. Be that as it may, the cross-pollination which is partly attributable to time spent in the United States studying both art and gemology, has been nothing if not serendipitous, particularly in the watercolors, some of which recall the fluid style of Sam Francis, others the gestural art of Robert Motherwell and still others the stained glass-like images of Roualt.