Tadao Nakabayashi

Japanese painter (1957), he initiated his studies in painting in 1965 with Minoru Ando, in his native land. He learnt ceramics, ikebana techniques (the art of floral arrangements) and tea ceremony. He took contact with the zen-budist philosophy and initiated in the calligraphic art. Around 1971, he took off to Europe in order to study and research about art, museums and galleries. He arrived in Brazil in 1979, settling in São Paulo. In his first exhibition held in Brazil, assembled at the Town Hall, he presented paintings of colourful Buddha. He uses geometric shapes, like squares and triangles besides ovoid and elliptical shapes, which are the basis of the figure composition; symbols and arabesques. He paints using the technique of acrylics on canvas. He executed panels, forming big format triptychs, remembering the Japanese folding screens. The critics are state unanimously that the zen-budist philosophy, and consequently the mysticism, are the striking themes of his work.