Inner Structure no. 5 1955

Curator: Looking at this cool cerulean dreamscape… It's "Inner Structure no. 5" by Kazuo Nakamura, crafted in 1955. The whole thing is built from acrylic paint. It has quite a mathematical quality to it, no? Editor: It really does. At first glance, I just felt a little seasick, to be honest. It's all this…linear agitation, dark rods jostling against a watery, cobalt ground. Gives the impression of precarious balance or, perhaps, deliberate disruption. Curator: Yes! Disruption but maybe controlled chaos, in the same way music that may at first seem chaotic has structure at its root. What’s compelling to me is that it could be read as a metaphor for social systems at the time too. Mid-century with so much emphasis on new kinds of logic… it feels deeply rooted in its time. Editor: The monochrome scheme definitely throws you back, doesn't it? It suggests both the limitations and possibilities present when the language of art was being renegotiated, particularly in response to war. Were all these structures actually creating newer more useful kinds of logic at the time, or just covering old ground with a new kind of anxiety? I always wonder. Curator: It is almost relentlessly even, despite the obvious layering and texture. Do you think that calmness reflects a particular intention? Nakamura was deeply inspired by science. Is that placidity an attempt to objectively show us the underpinnings of the universe? Or perhaps the emotional landscape beneath? Editor: It’s tricky, because while it’s not a political picture, it lives within a world steeped in the tensions of Cold War ideology, particularly how these political dynamics bleed into scientific and technological research. One starts to see how concepts like "inner structures" become highly contested intellectual terrains. Curator: Fascinating to consider. I feel so at peace, lost in those lines and layers, so clearly you bring so much valuable additional framing! Editor: Right? Every artwork lives in a sort of conversation with the conditions of its making, so each viewing, each dialogue about a work of art, enriches our understanding and challenges assumptions. Thank you for that brief sojourn.