Collage day

Mountain Home by @selami.arq

KISHI EIKO - born 1948, Nara prefecture, Japan.

“I look closely at the forms, colors, and surfaces I encounter daily. Later, I wonder why they left such an impression on me. Reflecting upon them further, new shapes emerge from these recollections. I then translate these new forms into sculptures that capture the essence of the original structures.”

KISHI EIKO first studied at Kyoto Seika University. She has exhibited extensively throughout Japan, and since 1984 has consistently won awards in both Japan and Europe. In 2000, she had the rare honour of having a one-person show at the Minneapolis Institute of Art while teaching at the Northern Clay Center. Hand-built using slabs, her work is meticulously formed and carved, then inlaid with extremely small applications of various coloured clays that are applied in a highly time-consuming mosaic-like technique (saiseki zōgan). 

The end result resembles a stone-like surface until examined closely, when the vibrancy of the mosaic inlay and its radiating intricate patterning can be fully appreciated.

Dewitt Godfrey.