One Heart For Thee
KELLI MAESHIRO
ART FAIR PHILIPPINES 2022
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kelli Maeshiro (b. 1989, Ishinomaki) lives and works in Manila and Honolulu. Her works are characterized as delicate and introspective, creating an inviting atmosphere that portrays themes of longing, memory, and ennui.
Maeshiro received her BA in Studio Art (Painting) from the Willamette University in Salem, Oregon and completed artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Center (USA) and at the Women's Studio Workshop (USA). In 2018, she received the George and Nobuko Azumano Award. Her works were featured in exhibitions at the National Museum of the Philippines, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, and Honolulu Museum of Art.
Maeshiro presents a series of paintings and organza-based organic wall sculptures drawn from the artist’s assessment of how our collective and individual relationships affect our identity. Merging traditional and contemporary art-making techniques, she portrays both the past and the present in solidifying the self through works that embody the super-melodic, the serene, and the task of forgetting.
The works incorporate textiles, traditional dyeing methods, western-style painting, paper casting, shibori, and illustrations that build up in layers to create a soft haze that shrouds the subject. Hence, these images declare Maeshiro’s assertion of ‘the self’ beneath inherited situations and conditions passed on throughout generations.
Selected works from One Heart For Thee
Kelli Maeshiro, i'll write your cares away, 2022, Acrylic and Indigo on Canvas, 30 x 24 in (76.2 x 61 cm)
Kelli Maeshiro, for the hearts you break, 2022, Abaca/Cotton Casted Paper, Indigo, Fabric, 48 x 17 x 3 in (121.9 x 43.2 x 7.6 cm)
Kelli Maeshiro, for your hearts you saved us, 2022, Abaca/Cotton Casted Paper, Indigo, Fabric, 50 x 23 x 5 in (127 x 58.4 x 12.7 cm)
Kelli Maeshiro, The others see the rest of me, 2022, Acrylic and Indigo on Canvas, 52 x 48 in, 132.1 x 121.9 cm
Kelli Maeshiro, i'll write a hymn again, 2022, Acrylic and Indigo on Canvas, 18 x 20 in (45.7 x 50.8 cm)