Nana Kaieda Painting “Stained glass flower”

Nana Kaieda’s work for SOMSOC ART SHOW 2026.

Year: 2026 / Size: 297(H) × 210(W) mm / Materials: Acrylic paint, glitter, and glitter powder
Edition: Unique / Signed: Yes

[Artwork Statement]
I believe flowers bloom after tears. I nurture them with care, but there are fragments of dreams that break and seeds of anxiety. I thought I had tended them dearly, but I am clumsy at growing flowers too, and I let them wither.

My heart and its flowers have faded so much that I can no longer remember them. Yet I painted flowers blooming in a small greenhouse inside the secret base of my heart, filled only with sparkling memories.

My heart is a vase with no bottom, unable to be filled. I have always admired people who are like flowers, wanting to bloom strong and fragile. I bury seeds of tears and am swallowed by the whirlpool of time; a flower blooms amid anxiety. Although I thought I had nurtured it with care, it withers no matter how much I water it, because there is a hole at the bottom of my heart.

There is a heart-palette whose colors have run dry, and sea glass that is scarred yet beautiful. Since childhood, I have loved collecting sea glass from my hometown beach. When I returned home from Tokyo and looked at it through eyes changed by growing up, it felt like my own way of life. I made the sea glass that forms the vase's pattern its motif.

Sea glass on the shore is like fragments of a broken heart. Broken glass becomes so beautiful when the sea continues to love it. Have I become stronger? Or have I simply grown numb to pain? Perhaps one day, all of my wounds and these memories will shine like jewels. This vase contains that faint hope.

This vase expresses a heart that has broken too many times and burst too vividly, so afraid of the pain when fragments scatter that even moments of radiance and joy are shadowed by the fear that they, too, will break. Things that break cannot return to their original form, but the sea and my life have taught me that they can change shape and be born anew.

In the flower's eyes are tears and small fragments of the moon. They may brighten someone's night while making another person's stars invisible. Because imperfection leaves room for growth, I love the waxing and waning moon especially, even though the full moon is beautiful, and I placed it in the eyes.

Black tears fall from above. My heart, like stained glass, is colorful, swallowing much light and sparkling brilliantly. Yet the tears I shed today, and the sadness behind them, can seem to blacken whole memories and times that were joyful and happy. I expressed water clouded by black ink: sadness that rewrites even memories of the past, while bright and warm memories cast a large shadow somewhere in my heart.

I do not want to leave the powerful negative energy of daily setbacks, pain, and sorrow as it is. With a spirit of defiance, I want to become an utterly great self. I have overcome many things by seriously confronting that part of myself. I added the words “ME vs ME” to a bandage, holding the conviction that my enemy is always myself.

[SOMSOC ART SHOW 2026]
SOMSOC ART SHOW is an annual art event organized by SOMSOC GALLERY. It creates new encounters and exchanges through art, offering a place where everyone can engage freely with works of art.

This year's theme is “One Artist, One Character.” Each artist condenses a character representing their current practice and worldview into one A4-sized work. Whether a figure, an abstract symbol, or an embodiment of the spirit, each character is a small universe reflecting the artist's aesthetic and ideas. Diverse expressions gather in Harajuku, where their individual worlds intersect.