Rakuko Naito was born in Tokyo, Japan and attended Ferris Girls School from 1954 to 1958. She graduated from the Tokyo National University of Art in 1958 where she majored in traditional Japanese painting. Following graduation, she moved to New York and briefly attended the Art Students League in search of a less conventional method of working. During the mid-1960s, Naito moved away from textured oil paintings. Through a friend, she met Abstract Expressionist artist Sam Francis, who introduced her to acrylic paint. Working with acrylics, spray paint, and masking tape she created work that emphasized flatness and downplayed the artist’s hand. She also experimented with integrating such materials as sand, nails, and wire into her geometric, colorless works to explore texture and materiality.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2009
Noma Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

2007
Galerie Renate Bender in Munich, Germany

2004
Art Paris by Denise Cade Gallery in Paris, France

2003
Tamada Project, Tokyo, Japan

2003
Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany

1992
Sakura Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

1982
Gimpel + Hanover & Andre Emmerich Galerien, Zurich, Germany

1981
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

1978
Charleston Art Museum of Sunrise, West Virginia, USA

1972
Henri Gallery, Washington DC, USA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2009
International Women Artist’ Biennale, Incheon, Korea

2008
New American Abstraction 1960-75, Gary Snyder Project Space, NYC, NY, USA

2007
Papierwelten, Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany

2005
Neutral, The Lab Gallery at Roger Smith, Curated by Robert C. Morgan, NYC, NY, USA
Papier-Kunst 5, Neuen Kunstvereins, Aschaffenburg, Germany

1999
Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany

1984
Robert Brown Contemporary Art, Washington, DC, USA

1979
Nancy Roth Gallery, Katonah, NY, USA

1974
Tokyo International Bienalle, Tokyo, Japan

COLLECTIONS

The Larry Aldrich Museum, Miami-Dade Community College, Kemper Art Collection, Roland Gibson Art Foundation, State University at Potsdam, Wellesley College Davis Museum, and numerous public and private collections.