Shinpei Nakaya is a multidisciplinary graphic designer and art director who has worked across a variety of production methods and media. In 2018, Nakaya held his first solo exhibition of graphic works titled, “Sanzu / Sanju”. In 2019, he published a photo book titled, “Street Privacy” that collected mistakenly censored image screenshots from an online map service.
This year, his second solo exhibition, “EXPLORER”, will be held at Tokyo Culture Research.
With this exhibition, Nakaya has focused on the idea of random and accidental errors that occur on the computer while producing his work. He combined these visual errors with his own graphic representation and ideas into an analog medium.
The works exhibited were created by taking images of people at intersections in various cities, and photographing the display monitor with a macro lens. By adjusting the crop and zoom, it becomes an experimental process for portrait photography.
Nakaya, who lives in central Tokyo, considered the connection between his life and work, and utilized the metaphor of the city intersection. Intersections are spaces where many gather, each with a completely different life and purpose—walking in various directions both literally and metaphorically. While creating this body of work with that in mind, Nakaya chose to express it through the contrast of micro and macro perspectives.
As a graphic designer, he arrived at the technique of photographing the monitor due to the way the RGB light particles physically depict the people in limited detail. By reducing the amount of information, it also surfaces their individuality. The resulting photo is expressed as a combination of panels that is superimposed and combined like a computer window. The panels of various sizes have the added effect of changing appearance based on the viewer’s position and proximity. At times the viewer may only be able to see a simple grain pattern or as if the portrait is floating, but from other perspectives it can be something entirely different.
Shinpei Nakaya
Born in Ayase, Adachi-ku, Tokyo in 1988. After graduating from Musashino Art University, he worked for design office, Handsome inc., before becoming a freelance graphic designer and art director. In 2019, Nakaya opened a web store “ZA” in collaboration with graphic designer, GUCCIMAZE. Recently, he is working on establishing his own design company, Haro.
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About Tokyo Culture Research
A small gallery space has opened inside THE SUN & THE MOON on the 52nd floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, with plans for irregular displays of works giving a sense of Tokyo’s cultural singularity.
