Artwork Description

Title: Wisp – The Thread of Good
Artist: Keiko Moriuchi
Date: n.d.
Medium: Mixed media
Dimensions: 10.8 x 10.6 x 2 in (27.5 x 27 x 5 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
In Wisp – The Thread of Good, Keiko Moriuchi orchestrates a kaleidoscopic composition of texture and color in a compact, jewel-like square format. Gilded nodules, metallic foil, and radiant pigments are amassed into an energetic visual field, at the center of which a radiant, vortex-like form suggests a cosmic core. The artist’s richly layered surface invites close inspection, where bursts of red, turquoise, and gold interlace with glimmering materials and tactile relief. The work possesses both painterly and sculptural qualities, asserting itself as an object of contemplation and symbolic resonance.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
This piece exemplifies Moriuchi’s embrace of Gutai principles—particularly the unmediated, performative engagement with material. Simultaneously, the dense chromatic palette and relief texture reveal affinities with both Action Painting and Art Brut. In Wisp – The Thread of Good, Moriuchi constructs a spiritual microcosm, a visual tapestry that references the sacred geometry of mandalas and the introspective chaos of postwar abstraction. Her gestural sensibility, combined with intricate detail, links the work to a broader lineage of female material abstractionists working on both sides of the Pacific.

3. Historical Context
Emerging from Japan’s postwar artistic ferment, Moriuchi's journey is emblematic of a generation negotiating East-West artistic dialogue. Encouraged by Gutai’s visionary founder Jiro Yoshihara to study in New York rather than Paris, Moriuchi immersed herself in the American avant-garde during the 1960s, living in the same building as Ad Reinhardt. Her subsequent entry into the Gutai group in 1968 coincided with a shift toward more conceptually infused, materially experimental practices. This work, like many from her later output, embodies the synthesis of Eastern spiritualism, Western formalism, and a personal cosmology.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. All materials, including layered pigments, gilding, and foil, are stable and well-adhered. The relief surface retains its vibrancy and integrity, with no visible losses or abrasions. No evidence of restoration or conservation treatment is present. The work is structurally sound and ready for display.

6. Artistic Significance
Wisp – The Thread of Good encapsulates Moriuchi’s metaphysical approach to art-making, wherein material exuberance meets spiritual inquiry. The Title: suggests an ethereal continuity—a suggestion of benevolence or divine order woven through chaos. Works such as this occupy a significant niche in post-Gutai art history, bridging intuitive materiality and conceptual depth. As collectors increasingly revisit the contributions of women in global postwar abstraction, Moriuchi’s oeuvre is gaining deserved recognition for its authenticity, complexity, and visionary force.