95.  Mayumi Nakamura  中村真由美

Mayumi Nakamura was born in 1976 in Miyazaki, Japan. She studied at Joshibi University of Art and Design and worked as a designer for a clothing manufacturer until 2006, before beginning her career as a ceramic artist at Art Amane Gallery. She creates both three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional ceramic works that are characterized by bright, almost fairy-tale abstractions of flowers and mythological creatures, but above all she tries to depict in her subjects the invisible things such as the inner, emotional and spiritual world.  Her ceramic paintings are made with thin, painterly glaze on flat ceramic panels, her three-dimensional objects arise from those paintings, they are the elements and motifs that, as she says herself, break out of the two-dimensional world and jump to reality. She is strongly inspired by Rimpa culture, a traditional Japanese painting school that originated in the 17th century and is known for its bold and highly decorative designs. Artists used vibrant colors and intricate patterns to create visually striking compositions. Mayumi Nakamura translates Rimpa's lustrous colors and natural designs to modern times through her loose and expressionistic painting touch, which produces dreamy, poetic images. Since her first solo exhibition titled "The Secret Garden" in 2012 at the Miyazaki Yamakataya Art Gallery, Mayumi Nakamura has since built a thriving career as a ceramicist, with numerous solo and group exhibitions in Japan and abroad, including Taiwan and Madrid. She also engages in commissions for hospitals and businesses, including ceramic murals and tile tableaux.