Ivy on a Concrete Wall with Hole
2017
Naomi Kawanishi Reis
Brooklyn, New York
Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.
About Naomi Kawanishi Reis
Naomi Kawanishi Reis (b. Shiga, Japan) is a Brooklyn-based Japanese/American visual artist who translates everyday life into labor-intensive collaged paintings using paper, blades and glue. From small scale to wall-sized, her intricate, labor-intensive pieces distill poetic quiet moments of observation into monument. Residencies that have supported her work include Yaddo, Wave Hill, the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, and the Lower East Side Printshop. She has exhibited in solo and group shows across the US and internationally, including at Brooklyn Museum, Morgan Lehman Gallery (New York), Praise Shadows (Brookline, MA), @KCUA (Kyoto), and Youkobo Art Space (Tokyo). She holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in Transcultural Identity from Hamilton College.
Program Participation
Painters & Sculptors Grant, 2018
Website / Social Links
My recent work starts with ‘unheroic moments’—scenes captured on my phone that in their striking, melancholic beauty encapsulate the Japanese aesthetic concept of monono aware (the impermanence of life). Following an instinct to pull open a split second of time and step into it like a portal, I translate these photographs into compositions of painted and cut paper.”
