Nanako Kono 幸野菜々子
Nanako Kono was born in Chiba, Japan, and raised in Kanagawa and Tokyo. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2016. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 2022, with an emphasis in painting, drawing, and printmaking and a minor in art history. She then completed a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2022–2023), where she later earned her Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing in 2025.
Nanako Kono’s paintings, drawings, prints, comics and collages investigate miscommunication. Kono is inspired by the structure of comic strips, employing intrinsic elements of that format — panels, speech balloons, animated objects, recurring characters, text — in her humorous paintings. The process of learning English as a second language sparked an interest for Kono in translations and semiotics, leading to the realization that the signs, symbols, and words we choose often fail to convey intended meanings to others. Taking visual and material cues from the Chicago Imagist tradition, Kono’s work explores a playful new way of communication.
Kono’s focus on multi-lingual miscommunication lead her to consider other contributing factors of this dynamic such as power imbalances and non-literal language use. Kono uses flatness, transparency, double-sidedness, and thickness of acrylic sheets in her work to convey the multifaceted nature of emotions, perceptions, and the indirect exchange of feelings with others through imaginary borders. She is also interested in the agency of tools themselves, considering language not only as a medium used by humans but as a tool that can act independently. Once released, words are re-shaped by interpretation, context, and circulation, often moving beyond the control or intention of their author. Inspired by the Japanese concepts of “tatemae” (public façade) and “honne” (true feelings), as well as manga speech bubbles, Kono’s paintings explore the dichotomy and ambiguity between the external persona and the inner self, revealing the layers of complexity in human emotions and interactions.
幸野菜々子は1999年千葉県生まれ、神奈川県・東京都育ち。2016年秋に渡米し、ネバダ州ラスベガスへ移住。2022年にネバダ大学ラスベガス校（University of Nevada, Las Vegas）にて絵画・ドローイング・版画を専攻、美術史を副専攻として学士号（BFA）を取得。その後、2022年から2023年までシカゴ美術館附属美術大学（School of the Art Institute of Chicago）のポストバカロレア・プログラム（絵画・ドローイング）を修了し、2025年に同大学大学院絵画・ドローイング学科にて修士号（MFA）を取得。現在はイリノイ州エルジンを拠点に生活し、シカゴを中心に制作・活動を行っている。