Since the early seventies, Kenjilo Nanao has been a quiet force in the San Francisco Bay Area school of art (as distinct from the New York school).   Kenji first became known for his delicate, surreal, and sometimes erotic lithograph still lifes with finely graded grounds of, color reminiscent of Japanese Shunga prints. Although lithography had been his medium of choice since his student days with Nathan Oliviera, in the early eighties he began to focus more attention on painting. Interestingly, the larger scale and more direct approach attending the new medium seemed to inspire an equally dramatic shift in style. "Even though I had been dealing with a figurative subject (in the prints), my concern was with an abstract message," he said.   And that realization led to a re-examination of his understanding of the tenets of abstract expressionism. The result has been to bridge the apparent semantic ambiguity between, say, Rothko's idea of "equivalence" in abstract forms and the metaphorical "message" contained within them. That is, each is both equivalence and a metaphor for the other, a joining of plastic and metaphorical imagery which Nanao calls "a state of elegant confusion."   But if confused, it is not obvious. His paintings are elegant, his message eloquent. His facility with the medium and the aesthetic flowing from it embraces both the Japanese and American heritages of which it is born. Kenji's work represents a rare level of sophistication in all respects.   Gallery Guide, October 1999

Kenjilo Nanao   Born: 1929 Aomori, Japan     Education   San Francisco Art Institute Tamarind Institute

One-Person Exhibitions

2009	Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery San Francisco, California
2008	Art Foundary Gallery Sacramento, California
2006	Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery San Francisco, California
2005	Gallery 3A Kyoto, Japan
2005	Art Forum JARFO Kyoto, Japan
2005	Yougen Gallery Tokyo, Japan
2004	"Retrospective Exhibition" Aomori Prefectural Museum Aomori, Japan
2004	Gallery Dionisi West Hollywood, California
2003	Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery San Francisco, California
2001	Durka Chang Gallery San Francisco, California
1999	Brookings Gallery San Francisco, California
1999	Smith Andersen Gallery Palo Alto, California
1998	Smith Andersen Gallery Palo Alto, California
1998	Brookings Gallery San Francisco, California
1998	San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rental Gallery San Francisco, California
1994	Aomori Gallery Aomori, Japan
1992	Don Stoker Contemporary Art San Francisco, California
1992	Dubins Gallery Los Angeles, California
1991	Sun Gallery Hayward, California
1990	Smith Andersen Gallery Palo Alto, California
1990	Dubins Gallery Los Angeles, California
1989	Eva Cohen Gallery Chicago, Illinois
1989	Dubins Gallery Los Angeles, California
1987	Don Stoker Gallery San Francisco, California
1986	Dubins Gallery Los Angeles, California
1985	Dubins Gallery Los Angeles, California
1983	Osaka Formes Gallery Tokyo, Japan
1979	Aomori Gallery Aomori, Japan
1978	Gallery Huntley Canbera Campbell, Australia
1978	Smith Andersen Gallery Palo Alto, California
1977	Richmond Art Center Richmond, California
1974	Smith Andersen Gallery Palo Alto, California
1973	Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts Palace of the Legion of Honor San Francisco, California
1972	Santa Barbara Museum of Art Santa Barbara, California
1971	Smith Andersen Gallery Palo Alto, California
1965	Tsubaki Kindai Gallery Tokyo, Japan
1964	Brooklyn Museum Art School Brooklyn, New York

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Group Exhibitions

(Selected)

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2003	Smith-Anderson Gallery Palo Alto, California
2003	American Academy of Arts and Letters Invitational Exhibition New York, New York
1997	San Francisco Museum of Art Rental Gallery San Francisco, California
1997	The Old 'New' Garde J.J. Brookings Gallery San Francisco, California
1994	16 California Artists, Galerie Show Tokyo, Japan
1992	Directions in Bay Area Printmaking Cutural Center, Palo Alto, California
1989	"Then & Now", Jeremy Stone Gallery San Francisco, California
1988	Landscape Visions, Office of the Chancellor California State University Long Beach
1983	National Invitational Exhibition University of Hawaii at Hilo
1981	7th University of Dallas, National Print Invitational University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas
1981	"Beyond Words", San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose, California
1980	First Prize, California: Printmaking & Paper Reese Bullen Gallery, Humbolt State College Humbolt, California
1980	" The Colored Print", Crocker Art Museum Sacramento, California
1978	Grabdores Norte Americanos, Museo de Arte Moderno La Tutuila, Colombia, South America
1978	Eight West Coast Printmakers, Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn, New York
1978	New Faces in Printmaking, Marjorie Kauthman Graphics Houston, Texas
1977	"Night Landscapes", Oakland Museum of Art Oakland, California
1976	The 20th National Print Exhibition, , The Brooklyn Museum New York, New York
1976	Tenth Intemational Biennial Exhibition of Prints Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum Anchorage, Alaska
1975	24th National Exhibition of Prints Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
1974	New Talent in Printmaking, Associated American Artists New York, New York
1974	Modern Printmaking, Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, New York
1974	West Coast, Printmakers Show, Van Straatan Gallery Chicago, Illinois
1974	California Exhibit, Linda Parris Gallery Seattle, Washington
1973	The Philadelphia Print Club Show Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1973	Twenty-Third Library of Congress Show Washington, D.C.
1973	Second Hawaii National Print Exhibition Honolulu Academy of Art, Hawaii
1973	San Francisco Area Printmakers Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
1973	Purchase Prize Eighteen National Print Show, Brooklyn Museum of Art Brooklyn, New York
1972	" Realism - 1972", Contemporary Gallery Dallas, Texas
1971	California Printmakers, Palace of thc Legion of Honor San Prancisco, California
1971-76	Gump's Gallery San Francisco, California
1971	Felix Landau Gallery Los Angeles, California
1970	Purchase Prize Deca Lithographers, San Francisco Art Festival San Francisco, California
1968	Northwest Printmakers' 39th International Exhibition Seattle Art Museum Seattle, Washington
1967	The Printer's Art, San Francisco Museum of Art San Francisco, California

Grants

1980	National Endowment for thc Arts Individual Fellowship for Emerging Artist
1968	Ford Foundation Grant, Tamarind Lithography Workshop Los Angeles, California

Awards

1980	First Prize California: Printmaking & Paper: A Survey Reese Bullen Gallery, State College Humbolt , California
1973-78	4 Purchase Prizes Honolulu Academy of Arts Honolulu, Hawaii
1973	Purchase Prize City of Philadelphia for the Library of Philadelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1972	Purchase Prize Brooklyn Museum of Art Brooklyn, New York

Commissions

(Selected)

1989	Painting, Red Canyon, Royal Park Sapporo Hotel Sapporo, Japan
1987	Edition of 100 Prints, Art Source San Francisco, California
1976	A Suite of 5 Images, Edition of 60 Prints New Leaf Publisher Walnut Creek, California
1975	Edition of 60 Prints, Associated American Artists New York, New York
1972	Edition of 20 Prints, City of San Francisco San Francisco, California

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Public Collections

(Selected)