Kikuko Morimoto

Born in Kobe, Japan, Kikuko Morimoto currently resides in New York City. She studied the art at Osaka University of Arts in Japan before enrolling at Columbia University in New York to pursue a Masters in Fine Arts. She currently works at the Art Students League of New York.

Although her daily inspiration for creativity is pulled from a personal journey of self-discovery and meditation, there are deeper underpinnings to her style.  Kikuko has split her life between Japan and New York, and her art reflects a straddling of these cultural influences.  She works with high-quality Japanese paper, touching on a tradition of craftsmanship that stretches back centuries.  Similarly, her bold use of highly saturated colors speaks draw from the combination of bold colors used in Japanese kimonos to the New York discipline of color theory which arose in popularity in the late 1940’s through 1960’s under artists like Josef Albers and Ellsworth Kelly.

Kikuko’s carefully arranged compositions are intentionally organized to find beauty and freshness in the interplay of color.  Morimoto uses colors to reflect organic feelings she has at the moment. By using analogous colors in a piece to reflect a feeling of serenity and quietness or combines complimentary colors in a polychromatic painting to express a feeling of excitement or urgency. Her use of paper gives the work a unique textured feel and adds three dimensionalities to the works. Morimoto uses her art to connect with the mystery and fluidity that she feels while meditating. Meditation allows her to connect with what lies deep inside herself and the essence of what makes her unique.  A former award-winning filmmaker, Kikuko has transitioned seamlessly into Fine Art having appeared in numerous group exhibitions and a solo exhibition in New York since 2013.

“For me, creating art is meditation. When my mind becomes quiet and still, I am moved from deep within. I am attracted to and looking for beauty and freshness in color, shape, space and their interrelationship. Sometimes they are subtle and sometimes they are vivid, contrasting and bold, whatever is called for at the moment. While in the process of making art, I relate to and merge with, what is in front of me in an intimate and personal way, searching for new and original expressions.” – Kikuko Morimoto