Memory in Arezzo

Memory in Arezzo, 2010, acrylic gouache on paper, 51 x 41 cm, uneven edges. This is an original 1 of 1.  Framed in black wood shadow box frame, floating forward on mount card.

Masako Kamiya has a BFA from Montserrat College of Art, and an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and she is an associate professor in Painting & Foundation Department at Montserrat College of Art.  In her painting, she engages in a dialogue with paint.  Her statement is composed of each dot that is made with the brush.  It requires intimate on the surface, and yet also moving away from the surface in order to see how the layers of mark-making negate earlier marks and reveal a new form.  In this way, she slowly arrives at her own truth, which is visual satisfaction.  The painting are made with gouache on a watercolor paper.  A build up of dots of color into half-inch, stalactite-like columns with rich variations in color layers.  From a distance the painting is a series of dots, which create larger patterns toward a uniformed center.  When observed more closely the third dimension is revealed, a forest of multicolored columns.  The surface is dense.  Colors on the flat surface of the paper react with the colors on the surface of each stalk when perceived closely.  Masako challenges the way a painting is conventionally perceived.  The sculptural surface moves viewers across the field of the painting.  This forces the viewer’s eyes to mix and optically process the various properties of color.  Ultimately, the viewers experience the subtle metamorphosis of the color in the paintings as the painting shifts from two dimensions to three dimensions and back again, according to the viewer’s angle to and distance from the work.

Artist: Masako Kamiya