Michele C. Kishita: Under Grand Firmament, 2014, latex on birch panel, 46" x 40" x 2"

About:

My work is an investigation of the dialogue between the wooden surfaces on which I paint and the trees from which those panels were built. I address man's relationship with nature while also highlighting the impermanence and transience of all things. The straight lines and angles of industry attempt to control nature, transforming a tree's rounded mass into flat rectangular sheets; yet, the undulations of wood grain marking the tree's growth and annual water intake emerge despite its new boxy confines. The life of the tree is written indelibly on its interior and at the same time is a historical account of the landscape itself. In my paintings, I strive to conjure the landscape that no longer exists but is inherently contained in each panel while expressing the visual contrast and harmony where man-made structures and nature intersect.

Bio:

Michele Kishita is a Philadelphia-based artist who focuses on landscape as her primary subject. Kishita's paintings are strongly influenced by the graphic stylizations and compressed spaces of Japanese ukiyo-e prints. Her paintings are in a number of private/corporate collections, including Toyota, Capital One, and Kaiser Permanente, and her work is featured in Create Magazine, on the Poetry Foundation blog and Studio Break podcast, as well as in several literary journals. She has participated in artist residencies in New Mexico, Russia, and Iceland and exhibited at the Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arab Emirates and the Museum of Non-Conformist Art in St. Petersburg, Russia. Kishita received both her BFA and MFA in painting from the University of the Arts and is represented by Edgewater Gallery, James Oliver Gallery, The Drawing Room Gallery, and Carrie Coleman Fine Art.

www.michelekishita.com