Winter Wonderland
Japanese artist Misaki Kawai radiates positivity. Over a decade-long career of performance, paint, and sculpture she has maintained a voracious appetite for the new, not to mention a quirky optimism. After a winter residency in East Hampton, snowed in with her husband, the photographer Justin Waldron, Kawai will unveil her latest experiments at the NADA art fair next week in a solo booth with the gallerist Eric Firestone. Before she packed up, Misaki gave W a sneak peek.
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Misaki Kawai poses with a finished painting at her East Hampton residency.
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“I think people think I’m pretty messy after seeing my paintings, but I think I’m pretty clean.”
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“[Justin] inspires me, but it’s good we don’t do the same thing.”
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“Being in nature has influenced my work. Of course, a little bit of everything comes into it.”
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“Eat, sleep, paint. It’s winter after all.”
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“Every creative person needs a pen and a paper to record their ideas. I’m always sketching.”
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“It feels like I’m using almost a different part of my brain when I work on the large scale canvases. Once you get comfortable painting big ones, it’s hard to go back. I’m liking experimenting with different sizes for now.”
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“Sometimes I need to walk into center of the canvases to paint. My shoes show it.”
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“It started with my drawings on the iPad. I ran out of paper once and it just sort of happened. And, now I’m painting in this new caveman style.”
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“I like to keep going. I don’t think I could live with my work long term—I need room to grow.”
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“I like climbing—not the crazy, crazy kind, but we went to Base Camp this winter. There was no one there but us. It was beautiful. It was shaped exactly like this. I should go color on the mountain.”
