Maya Makino (Japan)

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Blue 2022

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'In my paintings, I try to capture and preserve the experience of witnessing past scenes appear momentarily before my eyes, which result from an involuntary awareness of sensations.  

The scent of a flower, the sound of rain, or the quietness of night trigger childhood recollections, leading to an experience where memories appear in quick succession in the mind, only to disappear the next instant as soon as I become conscious of such sights and senses. It could be described as the feeling of pursuing the moment one remembers'.

 

About the materials

The wooden panels are primed with gesso made using gofun (shell lime), which is sometimes applied to create reliefs that are then soaked with indigo dye. Intensity of colour is an important element of expression in my work, which involves the use of a single dye to produce a range of indigo blue hues. One characteristic of indigo dye is that it penetrates the support, a quality linked to the way memories penetrate the mind. 

I regard painting not only as an effect on the painted surface, but as a phenomenon emerging from deep within the support, where colour transcends the material.

 

 

Education

2007  B.F.A., Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts

2009  M.F.A., Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts

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Maya has had numerous solo exhibitions in Tokyo and has been selected for many group exhibitions.  Her work is also in Museum and private collections.