Chieko Murasugi @ Red Hat
Chieko Murasugi at Red Hat
100 E. Davie Street
Raleigh NC, 27601
November 2022 - March 2023
Chieko in her studio.
Artist Bio
Chieko Murasugi is an abstract painter and mixed media artist who was born in Tokyo, raised in Toronto, and lived in San Francisco for 20 years before moving to North Carolina in 2012. Trained as a visual scientist and artist, she has a PhD in Experimental Psychology (York U) and an MFA in Studio Art (UNC-CH). Murasugi has exhibited her work nationally in galleries and museums, including the Mint Museum, Greenhill, UNCG’s Gatewood Gallery, and the Weatherspoon Art Museum. Her paintings are included in the collections of TIAA, Honeywell, the City of Raleigh, and Duke University. She is a co-founder of BASEMENT, an experimental, artist-run project space in Chapel Hill.
From left to right, Box Seat, Glacial, and Transpose
Artist Statement
Created in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, my Shiro Kuro (White Black) works allude to dualities that exemplified those disquieting months: past and future, hope and despair, fragility and resilience.
Speaking through materials, I employed cheesecloth, an airy fabric once used to wrap napalm jelly in incendiary bombs. My choice references the WWII fire bombings of Tokyo, which my parents barely escaped, and which irrevocably altered their futures and their psyches. I coated the cheesecloth with rabbit skin glue, a sizing used since the Renaissance to seal canvases and when wet, glistens like jelly. When applied to cheesecloth, the glue stiffens and strengthens the fabric while remaining susceptible to moisture.
Shiro Kuro’s abstract compositions, punctuated by sections of blue ink and pages of old diary pages, embody both the vulnerability and potency of the human spirit across time.
Exhibition Checklist + Pricing
Glacial, $1200, cheesecloth, rabbit skin glue, paper, ink
Transpose, $1200, cheesecloth, rabbit skin glue, paper, ink
Box Seat, $600, cheesecloth, rabbit skin glue, paper, ink
to inquire about purchasing a piece please email Ant (they/them)!
George Gregory / Open Gallery at Red Hat
George Gregory / Open Gallery at Red Hat
My production process often leaves me with scraps of wood that are too small to incorporate into my work, but too big to throw away. I find myself saving these scraps for potential use in the future. After much deliberation, I found myself dipping these scraps into acrylic paint and laminating them together. This process was the inspiration for Pixel-ed.
Pixel-ed by George Gregory
My production process often leaves me with scraps of wood that are too small to incorporate into my work, but too big to throw away. I find myself saving these scraps for potential use in the future. After much deliberation, I found myself dipping these scraps into acrylic paint and laminating them together. This process was the inspiration for Pixel-ed.
Pixel-ed is made out of 14 sheets of ¾” pine plywood. I spent about 20 hours on the table saw ripping the plywood into 1 ½” strips. It took 6272 cuts on the miter saw to cut the strips into varying lengths. I dipped these pieces into 33 different colors of acrylic paint and laminated these pieces into 63 total units.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am inspired by personal narrative from my childhood, adolescent and adult relationships. Since childhood, I have embraced materials considered part of the arts and crafts world. It is a way for me to combine my childhood experiences of crafting with my Grandmother and spending time with my carpenter Father while he worked. The materials they used in combination reveal the tensions between low art and high art. Through their use with form, I am leveling the playing field.
The relationship between hard and soft plays an important role in my work. This is demonstrated through the materiality of fiber and wood. My material choices and processes reference my experiences with lost relationships. I pay homage to my Father and Grandmother by incorporating the same materials that played a part in my childhood. Creating a delicate balance.