Senior Seminar

I created this body of work during my two terms in senior seminar at Dartmouth College. This collection, in addition to my honors thesis, awarded me the 2021 Robert Read Prize for graphic arts. “SPACES,” the book I created as part of this project, won the 2021 Dartmouth Book Arts Prize for best art book. I also received a citation of academic excellence for my work in this class. Works are acrylic on plywood, masonite or paper. The book features pages of acrylic on paper in single-section pamphlets, bound in an accordion binding.

My Artist Statement

 Born and raised in the urban metropolis of Tokyo, I’m inspired by the balance between vibrant color and tidy order. In my artworks, color becomes the building material for imaginary architecture, grounded by straight lines and the illusion of structure.

My work explores the romance between color and shape. I create dreamscapes so beautiful you want to dive in like you would a pool on a hot summer day.

It’s rare that the first color I place on the canvas is what you see when the painting is complete. I place other hues around the first, step back from the canvas, and if the combination doesn’t feel absolutely harmonious, I implement another. In my colors I search for visual equilibrium that probes our cognitive understanding of space. Ultimately, I’m building a language of color and architecture.

I seek to push the edge of what’s possible in reality. These dreamscapes find order in colors that don’t appear in nature and in rigid lines that ground the works in the laws of physics. Without this grounding, the paintings would lose the logic that allows us to navigate them. In this fashion, I suggest that space still exists — although when, where and how remain unclear.