Nao Maeda
Artist
Bio
I explore contemporary self-portraiture, focusing on the distance between people and the
world and the ambiguity of the self.
I mainly produce a series of self-portraits.
Biography.
2001 - Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
2021 - Entered Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting, Oil Painting Course
2025 - Graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Department of
Painting, Oil Painting Awards
2024 - The 49th Annual Exhibition of the Japan Society of Printmaking, Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts Award
The artist views identity as a layered collection of fragmented, fading moments—more like a time-lapse than a continuous film. Their work explores how memory distorts, how we selectively recall beauty while concealing discomfort, and how even the most ambiguous or uncomfortable aspects are essential to the self. Through this lens, they approach the contemporary self-portrait not as a vivid likeness, but as an accumulation of uncertain, internalized fragments.