Kana AKAMATSU　Soft Landscape

Exhibition period｜April 25 (Sat) – July 5 (Sun), 2026
Part I [Residency / Production]｜April 25 (Sat) – May 27 (Wed)
Part II [Exhibition]｜May 30 (Sat) – July 5 (Sun)

Venue｜MOMENT Contemporary Art Center
Opening hours｜11:00–19:00
Closed｜Mondays and Tuesdays
Organized by｜MUZ ART PRODUCE
In cooperation with｜Dear Gallery NARA
With special cooperation from｜Mori Manufacturing Research and Technology Foundation
Admission｜Free 

From April 25 (Sat.) to July 5 (Sun.), 2026, MOMENT Contemporary Art Center will present Soft Landscape, a solo exhibition by Kana Akamatsu, an artist born and based in Nara.

Akamatsu creates paintings that abstract the ways in which opposing elements, such as life and death, or nature and artificiality, coexist in everyday life while maintaining a delicate balance. By first turning scenes and motifs into collages and then reconstructing them into her own imagery, she sharply extracts individual forms—plants, buildings, and people—and creates a tense balance across the picture plane. In addition to her artistic practice, Akamatsu has worked as an art teacher at high schools and alternative schools, while also taking on various other roles, including working in her family’s farming business and raising a child. Through this back-and-forth between making and living, she began, after stepping away from farming last year, to turn her attention more consciously toward what it means to live with multiple roles. As she puts it, “After slipping out of all those roles, I felt as though I had returned to myself,” Akamatsu held 「真ん中と端っこのわたしたち」 at the Nara Prefecture Historical and Artistic Culture Complex in January 2026, taking 「じぶん」「いのち」「そだてる」 as key words.

This exhibition carries forward these concerns that have emerged in her recent practice, while further opening the act of making toward relationships with others. During the first half of the exhibition period, from April 25 (Sat.) to May 27 (Wed.), Akamatsu will undertake a period of residency and production, with the gallery open as her studio. When the artist is present, visitors will be able to observe her working process, and a participatory program is also planned in which they may freely add drawings to the canvas. From May 30 (Sat.), the exhibition will focus on new works produced through this residency and its collaborative processes. It will also include drawings co-created by Akamatsu and her daughter, as well as earlier collage works.

The word “landscape” in the title refers not only to scenery or views, but also, in fields such as architecture, to a designed space that includes the surrounding natural environment. As people visit and encounter both Akamatsu herself and her works, this exhibition functions as a space in which the landscape gradually changes.




Kana AKAMATSU
Born in Nara Prefecture in 1990. Lives in Nara Prefecture. Graduated from the Oil Painting Course, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Kyoto University of Art and Design, in 2013, and completed the Graduate School of Art Expression, Kyoto University of Art and Design, in 2015.

Major solo exhibitions include 「真ん中と端っこのわたしたち」 (2026, Nara Prefecture Historical and Artistic Culture Complex, Nara), 「虫の目とおやの目」 (2025, Gallery Hillgate, Kyoto), 「こんにちは、　」 (2025, Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, Nara), 「土の声を聞き、風とあそぶ」 (2023, NEUTRAL, Kyoto), 「みんなの部屋」 (2021, KITA MODERN ART MUSEUM, Nara), 「ここで描く」 (2021, galerie16, Kyoto), and 「新世代への視点2019」 (2019, GALLERY KOBAYASHI, Tokyo). 

Major group exhibitions include Idemitsu Art Award Exhibition (2024, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Tokyo), 「東 京都 展 The Echoes of East Kyoto」 (2024, WHAT CAFE, Tokyo), and 「テーブルにトマト」 (2024, A-LAB, Hyogo). Major art festivals and art fairs include ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO 2022 (2022, Kyoto, Kyoto), 「奈良・町家の芸術祭 HANARART 2022 こあ『今から、生まれる』」 (2022, 旧荒木邸, Nara), and Gunma Biennale for Young Artists 2019 (2019, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Gunma). 

Awards include the Nikkei Kyoto Branch Award at Kyoto Art for Tomorrow 2026 ―京都府新鋭選抜展― (2026), selection for Kyoto Art for Tomorrow 2024 ―京都府新鋭選抜展― (2024), the Grand Prize at Gunma Biennale for Young Artists (2019), and the Jurors’ Special Prize at FACE 2018 損保ジャパン日本興亜美術賞 (2018).

Official Website