Artwork Description

KEIKO MORIUCHI

Saint Annabrona, n.d.
mixed media on board
33.5 × 24.5 cm (13.2 × 9.6 in)

This richly textured composition presents a central symmetrical motif resembling a stylised floral or sacred emblem, set within a densely worked surface of pigment, gold foil, and relief structure. The image is organised around a strong vertical and axial balance, with the central form emerging from a highly ornamental field of saturated colour and gilded detail.

Moriuchi constructs the surface through an accumulation of material interventions that emphasise both spontaneity and control. Thick impasto passages are interwoven with reflective metallic elements, producing a fluctuating visual rhythm between opacity and luminosity. The result is a surface that reads simultaneously as image, object, and icon.

The work resonates with postwar Japanese avant-garde practices, particularly the Gutai movement’s emphasis on material exploration and direct engagement with physical substance. At the same time, its icon-like structure and symmetrical organisation suggest affinities with devotional imagery and decorative traditions, reframed through a modern abstract vocabulary.

Saint Annabrona exemplifies Moriuchi’s synthesis of material experimentation and symbolic structure. The work’s compact scale belies its visual intensity, positioning it as a concentrated articulation of her broader interest in ritualised form and tactile abstraction.