Artwork Description

Title: Peach of Kunlun Mountain 3
Artist: Keiko Moriuchi
Date: 2018
Medium: Mixed media on canvas
Dimensions: 35.8 x 28.6 in (91 x 72.7 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Peach of Kunlun Mountain 3 is a luminous and richly textured mixed media painting by Keiko Moriuchi, executed in 2018. The composition features a constellation of stylized peach blossoms rendered in vibrant hues of pink, green, gold, and violet, floating against a swirling lavender-purple ground. Each form is meticulously built up through impasto layering and gilded embellishment, creating a jeweled relief effect. Framed by a vivid yellow sculptural border, the entire piece radiates with ornamental richness and symbolic intensity.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Moriuchi’s visual language is deeply rooted in the tactile experimentation of Gutai, but also draws on the formal motifs of sacred geometry and botanical mythology. In Peach of Kunlun Mountain 3, the painterly vocabulary merges abstraction with ornamentation, and the peach motif—repeated throughout the surface—becomes a symbol of cosmic abundance and spiritual vitality. The swirling lavender field suggests the celestial sky or divine ether, recalling mandalas and ritual textiles from both Eastern and Western traditions.

3. Historical Context
Having studied at Osaka Shoin Women’s University and later advised by Jiro Yoshihara to pursue her artistic path in New York, Moriuchi became an active participant in the postwar Japanese avant-garde. After her induction into Gutai in 1968, her work evolved through cross-cultural exposure, fusing American minimalism, conceptual art, and Japanese calligraphic spontaneity. By 2018, her art had reached a mature synthesis, as seen in this work, where symbolism, materiality, and myth converge in highly personal and spiritually resonant compositions.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The canvas is structurally stable with no visible wear, losses, or discoloration. The impasto, gilding, and color are vibrant and intact. No conservation treatment has been undertaken or required.

6. Artistic Significance
Peach of Kunlun Mountain 3 is a striking embodiment of Moriuchi’s unique capacity to merge ancient symbolism with contemporary abstraction. The work stands as a visual hymn to renewal and transcendence, echoing the legendary peaches of immortality said to grow on the sacred Mount Kunlun in Chinese mythology. With its sensuous surface, mythic resonance, and dynamic formal execution, this piece is both a celebration of vitality and a meditation on time, tradition, and transformation.