NAGA TSUTSUMI

12 Aug 2020

Speaking of kilns, Palmerston North artist Naga Tsutsumi has started creating large scale works using charcoal from totara trees, a technique he’s personally perfected. Here’s a fascinating film and accompanying Manawatu Stuff story.

Aug 05 2020

An artist makes charcoal from totara trees and now draws them in a bid to discover what it means to be New Zealand made.

Naga Tsutsumi has lived in New Zealand for 19 years and works from a small studio in the front of his Palmerston North home.

News Story here

Oct 1, 2019

There should be a warning taped to the door of Naga Tsutsumi’s studio: “Don’t enter if you’re hungry.” The Palmerston North artist is currently working on a fast-food series for his next exhibition, Vanished Travellers (Zimmerman Art Gallery, 1-31 October), and elaborate drawings of burgers, pizza and bowls of pasta line the walls.

Oct 12 2019

Artist Naga Tsutsumi almost salivates when talking about the deep affection he holds for his latest exhibition inspiration – fast food. Greer Berry reports.

Nov 10 2018

An artist who resented the price of charcoal now has the chance to make his own artistic tools from totara.

Japanese artist Naga Tsutsumi has moved past drawing pictures in any old charcoal to inventing his own totara charcoal sticks.

February 26 2018

A conversation with a cartoonist got Palmerston North artist Naga Tsutsumi thinking about a new way to put expression into his art.  These ideas then found their way into his latest exhibition.  Tsutsumi has been exhibiting annually at Zimmerman Art Gallery in Palmerston North since 2013 and after a chat with local cartoonist Brent Putze he said he "rediscovered the power of cartoons and comics".

February 2 2017

A painting sits on Naga Tsutsumi's easel. The background is an immense, very full, book case and the inertia of nostalgia is conjured up with a stepping back. It's a dream space, a deja vu place and it tilts your head in thought. 

July 8 2015

Naga Tsutsumi has fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a fulltime artist and while his new exhibition is titled I am not afraid, he admits to a little trepidation. 

Oct 3, 2014

Artist Naga Tsutsumi made a choice early in his life that he didn't want to be another cog in the wheel, and started on a path to discover a better way and a slower pace.