Artist Juri Morioka in Dubai, March 2008
A good introduction to artist Juri Morioka is the statement in her web site that resumes the life path of the painter, born in Japan and for many decades now living and working in New York:
"I was born in Tokyo. In elementary school, I learned that the Japanese Constitution -- with its renunciation of war -- had been drawn up by Americans. From that point on I wanted someday to learn English and travel to the place that had now become -- in my mind -- the land of peace. After all, my grandmother's brother died in Hiroshima and I grew up listening to these terrible stories about the war. I was taught we shall never fight. I finally came to the US as a high school exchange student and spent my senior year with an American family in Findlay, Ohio. After graduating, I returned briefly to Japan to attend Baika Women's College to continue studying English while working nights as a KDD International telephone operator. I then returned to Ohio to attend the University of Toledo, but a year later packed everything into my car and drove to New York City with my cat, Sid. There I earned a BFA in painting at Parsons School of Design in 1990. I've been working in Manhattan ever since. I'm still looking for the land of peace, which for now, can be only found in our hearts."The following interview was conducted during her visit and talk at the Visual Communication program of the American University in Dubai in March, 2008.
Marcelo Lima - This was your second visit to Dubai. What brought you to the UAE, and what are your impressions of the city?
Juri Morioka - A collector from Dubai contacted me. I already had friends in UAE who had been trying to get me to come over. By then my curiosity was driving me. It was an alignment of the planets! Dubai is such a powerhouse, like a flower blooming at super light speed. Everything is growing; the city itself is like something alive. For me it was a fantastic experience – a good kind of culture shock. It’s so multicultural, even for me, coming from New York. It was hot. I went to the shopping mall. People were skiing. Everything was fascinating, and the people I met were so kind and generous. And even with everything going on all around me, it felt so relaxed and peaceful.
ML - You talked about your musical background in your recent presentation at AUD. How did the transition to the visual arts happen?
JM - I think in the beginning it was all one thing to me. I remember singing to myself while drawing on the paper walls of my childhood home. I remember feeling so free, and my creativity seemed so endless then, and so close to my soul. I wanted to fill up the vast empty space in front of me. When I was three I started taking piano lessons. My teachers were very strict, and I felt my freedom shrinking. I didn’t want to play the piano anymore. When I went to America as an exchange student at seventeen, I quit playing altogether. Then I felt lost for a while. It wasn’t until I went back to Japan that I discovered abstract paintings. They were so foreign and new to
me. They brought me back to the early time when my creativity was blossoming. I’m still thankful that I learned discipline from my piano teachers – I’m very strict with myself when it comes to work. And my musical background is still a big influence on my painting.
ML - You talked about your creative process as "intuitive": you start a work without any preconceived ideas or plan. If the metaphor of the "journey" can serve to describe the act of creation, what are to you the signs that you are in the correct path, in the right direction or have attained finally your goal?
JM - I start breathing right along with my brushes, and I stop noticing the music I’m listening to. I become unaware of my thoughts. The canvas, the music, and my unawareness become all one in nothingness. And I keep painting until nothing is missing – and that’s when I know the painting is finished.
ML - The works in your presentation brought to mind the color compositions of Paul Klee (who was an accomplished violin player) and reminded me also, in a more mediated way, of the color explorations and formal "obsessions" of Hundertwasser, minus the kind of "playful anxiety", both humorous and "dramatic", of his works. What are the artists, past and present, that you feel an affinity with?
JM - Ever since I discovered UAE in May 2007, I'm fascinated by Middle Eastern culture. Now I’m listening to Om Kolthoum, Kadim Al Sahir, and other Middle Eastern artists as I paint. It’s not easy to know why a certain style of music affects my work in the way it does, but the fact that it does is there to be seen. I like Ingres’s paintings for the way he composes the whole canvas with different touches of notes, and Van Gogh, De Kooning, Munch, Bonnard and other painters who combine a Japanese type sensitivity with the passion of the West. I didn't know of Hundertwasser until I heard about him from other artists during a Vermont Studio Center residency. His works are very intimate. He was also heavily influenced by Japan. It’s only when I look at the work of other painters I admire who were themselves influenced by Japan, that I feel its indirect influence on my own paintings.
Looking back, as a student at Parsons, Elizabeth Murray also was a big influence on my works for her playful and determined pallet.
ML - Tell us about your current projects and future goals.
JM - My goal is to create beautiful works. So I’ll just keep painting and see what I come up with. I have a solo show coming up in Portland Oregon in October, at Butters Gallery – that’s the one I’m working on now. Inshalla, I’ll be in XVA Gallery’s group show opening this June in Dubai. Please visit
http://www.juri.org to find out about upcoming shows.
