MAIKO KASAI (Japanese, B. 1983)

"MY WORK IS A HYPOTHETICAL ATTEMPT TO DEPICT THESE LANDSCAPES THAT MIGHT SEEM DRAMATIC AT ONE MOMENT, AND TOTALLY RESTRAINED BY VARIOUS RULES IN THE NEXT INSTANT." – MAIKO KASAI
Kasai's fluid yet bold brushstrokes, influenced by Rinpa school aesthetics, allow her to create a small abundance of space and depth within her canvases. The shimmering colours of unforgettable nature in her imaginary world pulls audiences from reality. She often uses characters such as girls, bunnies, and other animals to create a narrative within her work. The presented work A Caller Early Morning (Lot 184) was a part of the 2013 Neighbour's Garden series. She grasps random and otherwise insignificant moments from her neighbourhood— voices from doorways, plants being watered, beautifully trimmed gardens and so on—to craft the compositions of these works. Through these ordinary moments of surrender, she imagines the life of unknown and gives attention to moments that are usually invisible. Kasai injects an element of narrative into this moment by adding a girl holding a shovel like tool, as if she is about to fight with sweet looking stuffed animal—the contradiction of this interaction is perhaps a reflection of contemporary society.