Having grown up in a Shizuoka town in the shadow of Mt. Fuji, for Naoaki Funayama, the colossal is quotidian. The goings on at the foot of the mountain can easily seem insignificant trickles in time, microscopic next to the immense. In that sense, Funayama's local circumstances strongly relate to his art, and his gravitation toward the dinosaur and the volcano, as subject and motif, seems quite natural. Through painting, he creates a bridges between his own experience and Earth's unremembered millennia.

Often forgoing paleontological accuracy, Funayama's art re-imagines the world as it could have passed and blurs the lines that place uncovered relics in space and time. Cambrian Period Hallucigenia crawl alongside Jurassic and Cretaceous Period dinosaurs. Colors fade along some of their bodies as camouflage in the forests, plains, and mountain ridges they inhabit. Human figures placed in the foreground would hardly stand out if not for the stark juxtaposition they present. Next to the striking greatness of the dinosaur or the daunting potentiality of the volcano, they are merely members of an audience, onlookers to gods. Still, it is exactly that contrast that is most illuminating. It's not the missing link, but the pursuit itself - to imagine what could stand in such vastness. What could hold the fossil of the unknown.

[Born]
1982　I was born in Japan.

[Education]
2006 MFA, Osaka University of Arts

[Solo exhibition]　
2018 " Dinosaurs " at Astoria Bier & Cheese Broadway, Astoria Queens NYC
2017 " DINOSAURS " at International Center of CCCS , New York
2017 " Naoaki Funayama Solo Exhibition " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2014(July) " X-don " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2014(January) " X-don " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2013 " X-don " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2006 " Solo exhibition " at ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan

[Art fair]
2018 " Art Market Hamptons | Market Art + Design " at The Bridgehampton Museum, New York
2018 " Superfine! NYC 2018 " New York
2018 " Fridge Art Fair NYC " at NU HOTEL, New York
2018 " Artexpo New York 2018 " at Pier 94, New York
2017 " Aqua Art Miami 2017 " at the Aqua Hotel, Miami
2017 " Superfine! Miami 2017" Miami
2017 " Superfine! NYC 2017" New York
2017 " Fridge Art Fair " at Branded saloon, New York
2016 " Fridge Art Fair " at Angel Orensanz Foundation , New York

[Group exhibition]
2018 " Who's Naughty/Who's Nice " at Viridian Artists , New York
2018 " PEACE 2018" at International Center of CCCS , New York
2018 " One Fine Day " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2018 " The 16th MOMOKURITEN " at Rose Theatre , Shizuoka, Japan
2018 " Gregg Kreutz's Class Show " at Art Students League: The Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery , New York
2018 " Free Mind in Spring " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2018 " 19th Annual WAH Salon Show " at WAH Center , New York
2018 " Kakizome " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2018 " JAPANISM " at One Art Space, New York
2018 " PLAYGROUND " at Walter Wickiser Gallery INC. , New York
2017 " A Political / Apolitical Holiday Show " at Viridian Artists , New York
2017 " wabi sabi " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2017 " Artist Air Out Their Drawers " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2017 " JCAT SHOWCASE " at Gallery Max New York , New York
2017 " Red, Black & Blue " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2017 " 18th Annual WAH Salon Art Club Show " at WAH Center , New York
2017 " The 11th 100 Artists " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2016 " The Fun Food Show " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2016 " LIFE " at Noho M55 Gallery・, New York
2016 " Summersalt 2016 " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2016 " The Kumamoto, Japan and Ecuador Earthquake 2016 Relief Art Event " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2016 " The 15th MOMOKURI " at ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan
2016 " JCAT SHOWCASE 1 " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2016 " 17TH Annual WAH Salon Art Club Show " at WAH Center , New York
2015 " Summer Salon 2015 " at Van Der Plas Gallery , New York
2015 " The 10th 100 Artists " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2015 " Summer Show Rules " at gallery onetwentyeight , New York
2015 " WAH Bridges Self " at WAH Center , New York
2015 " Peoples Choice Small Works Show! " at Greenpoint Gallery , New York
2015 " 16TH Annual WAH Salon Art Club Show " at WAH Center , New York
2014 " ART for HEALTH -Silent Auction Art EXHIBIT- " at Serendipity, New York
2014 " The 9th 100 Artists " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2014 " The 14th　MOMOKURI　" at ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan
2014 " 15TH Annual WAH Salon Art Club Show " at WAH Center , New York
2013 " MADE IN BROOKLYN: A T-SHIRT EXHIBITION " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2013 " The 8th 100 Artists [No] " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2013 " The 7th 100 Artists " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2012 " The 6th 100 Artists "(Ouchi Gallery) at Sala dei Templari , Molfetta ITALIA
2012 " The 5th 100 Artists " at Ouchi Gallery , New York
2012 " The 13th　MOMOKURI　" at ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan
2010 " The 12th　MOMOKURI　" at ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan
2008 " The 11th　MOMOKURI　" at ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan
2006 " The 10th　MOMOKURI　" at ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan
2005 " The 3st　Emerging artists exhibition　　-Art Generation 2005-" ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan
2002 " The 1st　Emerging artists exhibition　" at ROSETHEATRE , Fuji Japan

[Awards]
2018 The Art Students League of New York " Xavier Gonzalez and Ethel Edwards Travel Grant " (Spain Travel Grant)
2017 The Art Students League of New York " The Donn Russell Grant "
2012 " The 21th　Japan Painting Art Salon Prize "　(free expression), Fine work
2005 " The 40th　Exhibition Itami　"(painting) , Top Award
2005 " Art Generation 2005 " , Top Award

[Collection]
Yuko Nii Foundation of Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY