PaintingsDIRECT Presents Reiko Waguri

Born in 1958 in Tokyo, Japan

Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY

1981, B.F.A., Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan

"There are several kinds of media that I use. Coffee, tea, Chinese ink, beeswax medium for the base, and acrylic pigment and oil colors for the surface. In addition to this, I paste dry flowers, photographs, pictures, and articles from different newspapers. I was first inspired to do this while cutting a few pictures from a local newspaper. I decided to draw on the pictures and then paste them onto a painting. While observing my painting, I became inspired to come up with new ideas.

I find that by using the newspaper I am more productive. It has become as natural to paint this way as writing in a journal. I express myself by looking into my inner world through the outer world.

The pictures I select from the newspapers have changed over the years. Each cutout represents the interests I had at the time. The pictures I choose and the designs I choose to create are connected to what's inside of me. Each painting is indicative of the state of my life and experience at the time it was made."

Reiko Waguri, July 2000