Artwork Description

Title: Kunlun Mountain Peach
Artist: Keiko Moriuchi
Date: n.d.
Medium: Mixed media
Dimensions: 5.3 x 4.7 in (13.5 x 12 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Kunlun Mountain Peach is a vibrant and energetically composed small-format mixed media work by Keiko Moriuchi. Dominated by brilliant pinks, metallic silvers, lemon yellows, and sapphire blues, the surface unfolds in concentric ovals layered with paint, foil, and textural accents. The central form—suggestive of fruit, blossom, or cosmic eye—is surrounded by a sequence of decorative daubs that resemble petals or stones, reinforcing the object’s talismanic quality. Richly pigmented and materially opulent, the work pulses with vitality, inviting both tactile and symbolic interpretation.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Moriuchi’s aesthetic fuses Gutai’s emphasis on material play and performative making with a personal iconography drawn from nature, mythology, and spiritual archetypes. The palette and symmetry in Kunlun Mountain Peach evoke decorative traditions in both Asian and Western art, while its compositional dynamism reflects the influence of Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel. The work’s Title: references Kunlun Mountain, a mythic range in Chinese cosmology believed to be the dwelling place of immortals—framing the central peach as an emblem of longevity, transformation, and sacred energy.

3. Historical Context
This work stems from Moriuchi’s mature practice, shaped by her unique trajectory between Japan and the United States in the 1960s and her eventual induction into the Gutai group in 1968. After initial studies at Osaka Shoin Women’s University, she was advised by Gutai founder Jiro Yoshihara to pursue her studies in New York rather than Paris—a pivotal redirection that led her into direct contact with American minimalist and conceptual art. Kunlun Mountain Peach can be understood as an outgrowth of this hybrid formation, balancing minimalist restraint with decorative richness and layered meaning.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The paint and metallic foil elements are securely affixed and retain their original vibrancy. There are no signs of deterioration, flaking, or restoration. The surface maintains its original texture and structural integrity.

6. Artistic Significance
Kunlun Mountain Peach distills many of Moriuchi’s enduring concerns: material density, symbolic layering, and the confluence of the spiritual and the sensory. Though modest in scale, the work exudes monumentality through its color and compositional clarity. It contributes to Moriuchi’s broader legacy as a transnational voice in postwar abstraction—one who reimagined Gutai principles through the lens of personal mythos, cross-cultural symbolism, and painterly experimentation.