Plattsburgh State Art Museum, Senior Exhibition 2003

Plattsburgh State Art Museum
Senior Exhibition 2003
Burke Gallery & Myers Lobby Gallery
April 26 - May 17, Noon to 4, 7 days a week

Kahoru Otani
Click a title to view an artwork
160. Goodbye Forever, 4" x 4", intaglio printing
161. From the Refrigerator, 4 ½" x 6 ½", relief printing
162. Fire Bird, 3" x 3", lithography
163. Still Life With Fabric (3), 20" x 36", oil on canvas
164. Still Life With Lily, 20" x 20", watercolor
165. Mermaid, 10" x 19", conte, graphite charcoal
166. Gentleman in the Flower, 8" x 22", conte, graphite charcoal
167. Departure, 12" x 25", conte, graphite charcoal

I was on the plane with a small suitcase and a huge expectation, heading for a country I've never been to, the United States. Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, I looked out the window and saw nothing but the gray sky several thousand feet above the earth. The sky was menacingly vast, thick and deep. Suddenly I felt that I was nothing; I felt empty. It seemed to symbolize the world I was about to enter, waiting to swallow me. Afraid of being collapsed under the great anxiety that I felt, I just thought of the faces of my family and my friend who guided me here to study art.

It has been almost three years since then. I felt like it was a dream that I just had last night or a really long time ago.

I've been working hard to fill the emptiness that I felt before. Art-making is like a meditation for me.

Through rolling up inks, proofing, editioning, stretching canvases, and mixing colors on the palette, either consciously or unconsciously, I directed myself toward the realm of satisfaction, toward the world where I can feel great joy. In doing so, art-making has finally overcome my anxiety. Now I know that it is an essential part of me, energy that drives me comes from deep inside myself. Sometimes it is a love of my family. At some other time, it is a friendship. And always, it is my love of life and love of beauty that we all can create. It would make me really happy to know that people can find that love somewhere in my books, paintings and drawings.

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