Color and Drawing is an exhibition of paintings by the late artist Kikuo Saito, opening at the Sam and Adele Golden Gallery. The show will be on view from September 24, 2016 through March 24, 2017.
Saito was known both as an abstract painter with a remarkable sense of color and as the creator of evocative theater/dance pieces. He was born and grew up in Tokyo, Japan. In 1966, at age 27, he emigrated to the United States and took up residence in New York City.
Saito had more than 60 one-person exhibitions since his first in 1976 at the Deitcher-O'Reilly Gallery in New York City. He had participated in well over 100 groups shows. In 2005, Saito became a painting instructor at the Art Students League on 57th Street in New York.
The works in 'Color and Drawing' were made between 1979 and 2012. These large acrylic paintings combine elements of painted calligraphic shapes that were 'stained' directly into the raw unprimed canvas and are juxtaposed against atmospheric fields of color. Saito approached these works directly and expressively, and all at once, foregoing any overpainting. The paintings in 'Color and Drawing' give witness to the challenge that Saito undertook to create an independent body of work.
A full color catalog of the paintings in 'Color and Drawing' will be available. To learn more about Kikuo Saito and his artwork, visit his website.
