Artwork Description

Title: Ray
Artist: Keiko Moriuchi
Date: n.d.
Medium: Mixed media on canvas
Dimensions: 16.9 x 12.6 in (43 x 32 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
This captivating small-format painting Title:d Ray by Keiko Moriuchi is a rich study in color and tactility, executed in dense impasto that alternates between luminous turquoise and saturated green. The surface is built in vertical ridges of paint, with a horizontal transition line subtly bisecting the composition. The top section features cooler, mint-toned textures, while the lower section shifts into a deeper verdant green, creating a chromatic dialogue that suggests natural gradients—like light filtering through water or foliage.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Moriuchi’s Ray series continues to reflect the core principles of the Gutai Art Association, which championed material engagement and performative process. Her layering of impasto recalls the expressive techniques of contemporaries like Kazuo Shiraga, while the chromatic sensibility bears a meditative quality often found in East Asian landscape painting. The rigorous vertical rhythm evokes both organic growth and minimalist repetition, bridging Eastern philosophy with the gestural abstraction of the postwar Western avant-garde.

3. Historical Context
Having trained under Jiro Yoshihara and lived among New York’s artistic elite, including Ad Reinhardt, Keiko Moriuchi's visual vocabulary synthesizes both Western and Japanese avant-garde movements. Her 1968 contribution to the New Artists’ Exhibition—an arrangement of 108 white floor cushions—solidified her place in Gutai’s history, while her later paintings like Ray explore the same meditative and material qualities on a more intimate scale. The interplay between vibrant material and structured form continues her exploration of presence, void, and repetition.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon request.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The impasto surface is well-preserved, with no flaking or discoloration. The canvas remains taut, and the pigments retain their original vibrancy and integrity.

6. Artistic Significance
Ray is a compelling example of Keiko Moriuchi’s mature practice, where restrained formal structure and exuberant material expression harmonize in vibrant balance. This piece encapsulates her role as both a historic Gutai artist and a continuing innovator in contemporary abstraction. Compact in scale but rich in resonance, Ray is ideal for collectors interested in tactile minimalism, material philosophy, and the evolving legacy of postwar Japanese art.