See You There

Book excerpt: "See You There" is a full-color art book by a contemporary Japanese-American visual artist, Nishiki Sugawara-Beda, surveying the artist's work from 2012 to 2020 in painting and installation. Following her journey through color and form, the book includes essays in both English and Japanese. Sugawara-Beda draws upon her Japanese heritage to explore themes related to culture, language, and spirituality rooted in Zen Buddhism. Connecting across space and time, the artist experiments in ancient Japanese materials and techniques including Sumi ink, kakejiku landscapes, and rice paper, to merge them with abstract and expressive forms familiar to the modern Western aesthetic. Samantha Burns, an exceptional writer, tutor, and editor based in upstate New York, captures the essence of Nishiki's work in a heartfelt foreword. An essay by Dr. Robert Edward Gordon, Professor at the College of Fine Arts, University of Arizona, offers an art historical and philosophical framework to understand Sugawara-Beda's body of work. "My recent works attempt to highlight an oft-forgotten engagement in contemporary society--a deeper connection with one's own spirit." - Nishiki Sugawara-Beda