Katsumi Nakai in The New York Times

15.09.2026

Katsumi Nakai, the artist who brought origami into Milanese Spatialism.
The New York Times, article by Max Lakin, July 9, 2026.

“In 1964, the artist Katsumi Nakai left Japan for a trip planned through Europe and the United States – “following the sun,” he called it. He got as far as midday. Captivated by the mix of classical masterworks and experimental ferment in Milan, Nakai relocated his family and stayed for 30 years, entering that city’s circle of progressive artists: Enrico Baj, Edmondo Bacci and Lucio Fontana, whose Movimento Spaziale, or Spatialism, challenged painting’s limitations as a fixed surface meant to be approached. Fontana slashed and poked holes in the canvas. Nakai’s solution, both gentler and more radical, was to allow a painting to approach a viewer (…). Nakai’s approach wedded the Western avant-garde to traditional Japanese sensibility and craftsmanship. His works synthesized origami; kiri-e, the meticulous Japanese art of paper cutting; and butsudan, the domestic cabinet shrines that honor departed relatives, with the altarpieces he encountered wandering into Milanese churches. He created his own language. (…)”