Artwork Description

Title: Wisp – The Thread of Good
Artist: Keiko Moriuchi
Date: n.d.
Medium: Mixed media
Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 1.6 in (26 x 26 x 4 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
This iteration of Wisp – The Thread of Good by Keiko Moriuchi is a powerful monochromatic composition rendered entirely in deep, saturated red. Vertical striations of thickly applied medium ripple across the square surface, creating a textured, almost sculptural relief. The uniformity of color directs attention to the material presence of the work itself, emphasizing gesture, gravity, and surface tension. This restrained visual language heightens the tactile drama, inviting viewers to experience the work through both sight and sensation.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Moriuchi’s engagement with materiality and repetition in this piece reflects the aesthetic lineage of the Gutai group and its commitment to letting matter assert its own identity. The work also bears affinity to the minimalist sensibilities Moriuchi encountered during her time in New York in the 1960s. While recalling the meditative rigor of artists like Ad Reinhardt or Yayoi Kusama, Moriuchi's red Wisp pulses with its own physical vitality—suggesting blood, earth, or flame. The monochrome is not silence, but density: a field of embedded energy and restrained movement.

3. Historical Context
Created within the framework of Moriuchi’s cross-continental trajectory, this work distills the aesthetic tensions between Eastern conceptualism and Western formal abstraction. Her interactions with Gutai founder Jiro Yoshihara and subsequent immersion in the New York art world positioned her to synthesize influences from both traditions. The vertical incisions recall not only painterly gesture but also Japanese calligraphic rhythm, merging ritual with repetition in a manner characteristic of her post-Gutai practice.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The surface shows no visible losses or cracks, and the thick impasto is well preserved. There are no signs of restoration or conservation. The piece is structurally stable, with sharp edges and consistent textural integrity.

6. Artistic Significance
In this minimalist-yet-tactile version of Wisp – The Thread of Good, Moriuchi redefines the possibilities of surface and monochrome. The red field becomes a vessel of intensity and internal movement—a meditation on presence, discipline, and transformation. This work deepens her contribution to postwar abstraction by balancing control and chaos, tradition and experimentation. It is a profound and resonant piece that underscores her continued relevance in the international conversation on material abstraction and female voices within the avant-garde.