Naohiko Kuriyaki | 《epica-after-NOirand（AIlandJyanai）》

■ Curator's Note

"Painting is dead, but pictures cannot die." — Starting from this proposition, Naohiko Kuriyaki traces back to pre-pictorial methods that were universal before the Renaissance — icons, Yamato-e, cave paintings. By layering crayon, colored pencil, sign marker, tempera, and more, and interweaving the acts of "drawing" and "writing" within the picture plane, he summons the mark-making that predates institutional painting onto large-format paper.

"Neither an island (island), nor the land of AI." — This double negation paradoxically proves the irreducible singularity of the hand's trace. The picture plane, where text and image dissolve into each other, embodies a "density of failure" that generative AI cannot replicate. The entanglement of drawing and writing functions as testimony of a body occupying a plane of existence fundamentally different from artificial intelligence's precision — declaring the irreplaceability of the act of mark-making.

■ About the Artist

Naohiko Kuriyaki graduated from Kyushu University's Graduate School of Design (Department of Design Strategy) in 2014 and continues to create from his base in Fukuoka. Through a distinctive methodology of layering crayon, colored pencil, sign marker, tempera, and more, he produces large-format drawings in which the acts of drawing and writing intertwine and entangle.

In 2024, he received the Grand Prize at the 21st Century Art Borderless Exhibition (National Art Center, Tokyo). In 2023, he was selected for the New York Open Exhibition and SHIBUYA ART AWARD. In 2025, his works were featured on the international art e-commerce platform Singulart.

■ Condition & Specs

• Title: epica-after-NOirand（AIlandJyanai）
• Year: 2026
• Medium: Crayon, colored pencil, sign marker, tempera on paper
• Size: 109.2 × 78.8 cm (W × H)
• Signature: Signed; unique work
• Condition: Excellent

■ Guarantee

This gallery is an authorized dealer under a direct representation agreement with the artist. Every work is accompanied by a gallery-issued Certificate of Authenticity, permanently guaranteeing its provenance and authenticity.

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