MASAYUKI NAGARE / RAN ORTNER

Jason McCoy Gallery is pleased to present an installation of works by acclaimed artists Masayuki Nagare (1923-2018) and Ran Ortner (b. 1959), coinciding with Nagare’s centennial birth year. On view from May 17th 2023, this exhibition sparks a dialogue between two artists that share a profound connection to the sea, and instills a sense of wonder and contemplation through nature’s greatest element.

Masayuki Nagare was a modernist Japanese sculptor who rose to prominence in 1960’s New York, becoming one of the most accomplished artists of his generation. His work deeply reflects his early years studying Shintoism, Buddhism and martial arts, and his later apprenticeship to a master swordsmith. Although Nagare’s work shares a fundamental connection to tradition, the artist was, above all, a Modern sculptor who successfully bridged two cultures with work at once universal and quintessentially Japanese. Through the patronage of Blanchette Rockefeller, Nagare was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, and his work appears in numerous American and European collections, and innumerable Japanese collections and sculpture parks – many of which he designed himself. His work has thus lingered in the public consciousness for the greater part of the 20th Century, largely following his success at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

Ran Ortner was born in San Francisco and raised in rural Alaska. Ortner relocated to Brooklyn in 1990, spending two decades working in solitude towards a distilled, minimalist vision. He was awarded the inaugural ArtPrize in 2009. Notable commissions followed, including a centerpiece for the United Nations’ World Water Day at the World Forum in The Hague, as well as works in the collections of 7 World Trade Center and Le Bernardin in New York City. His work has been exhibited at Mana Contemporary, Jersey City (2014); Robert Miller Gallery, New York (2016); the Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster (2016); and Marlborough Gallery, New York (2021). A lifelong surfer, Ortner’s process explores both the muscular immediacy and the delicacy he experiences in the ocean.

Highlighting the deeply introspective, ancient relationship between humanity and the sea, this exhibition offers a new lens through which to view these distinct artists. The bold dialogue between Ortner’s immersive, overwhelming seascapes and Nagare’s metaphoric, enduring forms creates a magnetic cohesion, enhanced through each artist’s methodical process and inclination towards working in solitude.