Born in Tokyo, Japan 1982 / Lives and works in Chicago, IL
EDUCATION
2013 MFA, Painting and Drawing, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2011 Post-Bacc, Painting and Drawing, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2004 BA, Fine Arts and Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
REPRESENTATION
Western Exhibitions, 1709 W. Chicago Ave. #5009, Chicago, IL 60622
SELECTED SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024 Sight Lines, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL 2022 Wayfaring, Western Exhibitions, Chicago IL 2019 Relatum, Relata, MPSTN, Fox River Grove, IL 2019 Slow Trace, Rainbo Club, Chicago, IL Winter 2017 Memory Material, Final Resting Place, Chicago, IL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 COSMIC GEOMETRIES: Prairie’s Edge, Secrist Beach Gallery, Chicago, IL. 2023 Regather, The Merwin Gallery, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL 2023 Serenity of Less, The Research House for Asian Art, Chicago, IL 2023 EXPO Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2023 Concentrate and Ask Again, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL
2023 Drawing Biennial, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
2022 NADA New York, Pier 36 299 South Street, New York, NY 2021 In Good Company, Monira Foundation, Chicago, IL 2020 NADA Chicago, Stanley Brown Jewelist, Chicago, IL 2019 Mana Decentralized, Mana New Jersey, Jersey City, NJ
2018 Bibliothēca, Roman Susan, Chicago, IL
2018 Tyrants, Final Resting Place, Chicago, IL
2017 The New Normal, Supa Salon, Istanbul, Turkey / The Hangar and Dawawine, Beirut, Lebanon
2017 En/Counter, Hybrid Salon, Chicago, IL
2015 Art from Excess, Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts, Gary, IN
2015 A*HAUL: Part Duh, in conjunction with 2nd Floor Rear, Chicago, IL
2014 In Medias Res, Biblio Exhibitions, Lyons, IL
2014 Scrap Heap II, Tusk, Chicago, IL
2014 A*HAUL, in conjunction with 2nd Floor Rear, Chicago, IL
2013 Eye Sense, The Chandelier Room, Chicago, IL
RESIDENCIES 2020-2023 Fresh Press, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 2022 Chop Wood, Carry Water, Pachamanka, NW IL 2021 Meta Open Arts, Chicago, IL 2019 Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Hyattsville, MD
2012 Art Farm, Marquette, NE
AWARDS & GRANTS
2023 DCASE Individual Artist Program 2022 Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
2022 Rex Abandon Fund, Chop Wood, Carry Water
2019 Denbo Fellowship, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center
2013 George and Ann Siegel Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
BIBLIOGRAPHY 2024 “Soft Spirits: A Review of Aya Nakamura at Western Exhibitions” by Alan Pocaro, Newcity Art 2024 “Forming Lined Taxonomies: An Interview with Aya Nakamura,” with Ashley Janke, Wrightwood 659 2023 “Unassuming and Self-Assured” by Alan Pocaro, Chicago Reader
2022 “Strange Confederations: A Review of Aya Nakamura at Western Exhibitions and Megan Greene at Regards” by Alan Pocaro, Newcity Art
PROJECTS 2023 Co-Founder of Switch Grass Paper