SEASONAL WANDERING | MICHELE KISHITA
April 1, 2021 – May 19, 2021
Crossing Art is pleased to present Seasonal Wandering, the solo show by Philadelphia-based artist Michele Kishita. Featuring more than a dozen brilliantly colored paintings created by the artist at her studio since 2014 to now, this exhibition demonstrates Kishita’s deep exploration of the dialogue between the wooden surfaces on which she paints and the trees from which those panels were built. Kishita paints exuberant and chromatic works, using wood as the material and starkly divisional color compositions which express extensive features of nature that gradually evolve over time. The works in this exhibition capture life’s transience and show Kishita – who is sensitive to the time and keeps inward feeling of kindness always. She anoints every ending moment as a new beginning and celebrates nature’s enduring power and its salutary presence in our topsy-turvy lives.
Kishita lived in Japan for a long time because the cultural fascination. After moving back to the United States, she started her art career, specialized in Japanese prints. She still visits her family-in-law in Japan frequently during the recent years. Her works are strongly influenced by the graphic stylizations and compressed spaces of Japanese ukiyo-e prints. The combinations of various colors create a livening pulse of highly vibrant atmosphere and subtly classical style. As Kishita’s practice on wood surface matured, this material began to play a powerful role in shaping her own approach to the broader theme, opening up a new sense of lifeforce and an embrace of her inner peace.