Maiko Kitagawa

Born in Saitama in 1983. Kitagawa completed her Ph. D. in oil painting at Tokyo University of the Arts. Using grease pencils called dermatograph, she draws a highly original world on a monochrome screen. Kitagawa creates the world of flora and fauna that transform their appearance when she is young. Eventually, they become the protagonists in the paintings as well as the artists, appearing on the stage of the forest where wildflowers are in full bloom. Her skillful technique expresses those flora and fauna with various textures, giving reality to unrealistic stage settings. The gradation made by special material creates the harmony, white shines like light, and black shines like lacquer. The magnificence created by unrivaled imagination and her sophisticated skills, is full of deep love for creatures and makes viewers impressed.