Nakanishi Natsuyuki and the Global History of Postwar and Contemporary Sculpture

As the first book-length study of Nakanishi Natsuyuki's sculptural practice, this volume explores his assemblages in dialogue with the postwar history of sculpture as a global phenomenon in the 1960s and beyond.Nakanishi's series of Compact Objects (produced from 1962 to 1968) allow for a reconsideration of the role of assemblage within cultural tendencies of the postwar and contemporary periods, both within and without Japan. This role forefronts the concepts of intimacy and interactivity-as well as ritual and process-within the context of sculptural experience. Nakanishi's critique of consumerism and conformity within these works-along with his experimentation with new plastic technologies-allows for a comparative treatment that includes a variety of movements and tendencies in Japan, Europe, and the US, including Minimalism, Fluxus, Neo-Dada, and Nouveau realisme, among others. The final portions of the book offer a wider and global context of postwar and contemporary tendencies towards assemblage, including an in-depth study of a multisensory exhibition by Yuko Mohri, held at the Venice Biennale in 2024.The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, contemporary art, and Japanese studies.