artist's statement
When I stepped out of the crematorium, I saw vapor rising from the chimney. I saw with my own eyes my mother turning into mostly water. Within hours she would be the wind and clouds, within days the rain and rivers, within weeks plants and creatures. I read that 10.34 seconds after the Big Bang, quarks were formed, and the universe was an infinite ocean of light. We are all made of that light. We are all brothers and sisters, fleeting, ever-changing manifestations of the same cosmic love. We could never hurt others if we understood this. Thank you for seeing my art—I hope it offers something of sympathy or encouragement while we are here together.
Museum Collections
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC, Phoenix, gift of Ray Griffin and Thom Robinson
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC, Shôsan, gift of Ray Griffin and Thom Robinson
Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum, Cullowhee, NC, La Limette, gift of Ray Griffin and Thom Robinson
Museum Exhibitions
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC, The New Salon: A Contemporary View, Gabriel Shaffer, curator, 2024
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC, Play, Cole Hendricks, curator, 2013
Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC, Waking Up with Van Gogh, Moni Hill, curator, 2012.
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Steven Matijcio, curator, Winston-Salem, NC, NCNC [North Carolina New Contemporary], 2010.
http://www.secca.org/
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC, Make It New, Ron Platt, juror, 2007.
Art Fair Exhibitions
Art Basel-Miami, Gen Art Vanguard New Contemporary Art Fair, Satellite Gallery at the Charcoal Studios, Miami, FL, 2008, Bill Thompson, gallery director; Francesco Locastro, fair director.
Selected Individual Exhibitions
White Walls, San Francisco, CA, Justin Giarla, director; 2013.
http://whitewallssf.com
Winthrop University Galleries, Rock Hill, SC, Taiyo la Paix, a Retrospective, Karen Derksen, curator; 2013.
Weisenblatt Gallery, Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, NC, Taiyo la Paix, a Retrospective, Ken Gregory, curator; 2012.
Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC; John Cram, owner; Jordan Ahlers, director; 2009. www.bluespiral1.com
Flood Gallery Fine Art Center, Asheville, NC; Jolene Mechanic, owner; Andrew Prieto, curator; 2007. www.floodgallery.org
Selected Group Exhibitions
Upstairs Artspace, Tryon, NC, Seeing Is Believing, Ray Griffin, Thom Robinson, curators, 2013.
http://upstairsartspace.org/
Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta, GA, Drawing on the Unexpected; Mark Karelson, director; Julyan Davis, curator; 2013.
Upstairs Artspace, Tryon, NC, Lines and Lives of the Face: Contemporary Portraits, Nancy Holmes/Margaret Curtis, curators, 2011.
http://upstairsartspace.org/
Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC, Storyline: Narrative Works on Paper, John Cram, owner; Jordan Ahlers, director, 2011.
Sattelite Gallery, Five Year Anniversary Show, Bill Thompson, owner, 2011
S. Tucker Cooke Gallery, UNC Asheville, NC, UNC Asheville Invitational Art Exhibit, 2010, Virginia Derryberry/Robert Tynes, curators.
http://www.unca.edu/news-events/news/2010/9/unc-asheville-invitational-art-exhibit
Upstairs Artspace, Tryon, NC, Seduction, Nancy Holmes, curator, 2010.
http://upstairsartspace.org/
Flood Gallery Fine Art Center, Asheville, NC, Jolene Mechanic, director, 2008.
World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Crazians, 2008, Moye Ishimoto, curator.
Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC, New x 3, John Cram, owner; Jordan Ahlers, director, 2008.
Selected Press
Mountain Xpress, 07/24/2012, "Separately Together," by Bridget Conn.
http://www.mountainx.com/article/44427/Separately-together
Bold Life: Western North Carolina's Arts and Culture Monthly, 07/27/2011, “A Postmodern Romance,” by Norm Powers.
http://www.boldlife.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A19328
The Laurel of Asheville, 10/2009, “Works of TAIYO LA PAIX.” http://thelaurelofasheville.com/1009/page.php?id=010
Mountain Xpress, 09/30/2009, "Plastic with purpose: Taiyo la Paix's fluffy, shiny paintings reveal deeper meanings," by Alli Marshall. http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2009/093009plastic_with_purpose
Studio Visit, 2008.
Asheville Citizen Times, 06/22/2008, by Paul Clark.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880620059
Juxtapoz.com, Reader Art, 03/04/08.
http://www.juxtapoz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2681&Itemid=59
Mountain Xpress, 02/13/2008, "The art of obsession," by Connie Bostic. http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/021308bluespiral
Rapid River, 01/2008, by Marcianne Miller. www.rapidrivermagazine.com
Mountain Xpress, 06/13/2007, "To each his own muse," by Connie Bostic. http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2007/061307taiyolapaix/
Mountain Xpress, 04/25/2007, "Salon of the progressive," by Connie Bostic. http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2007/042507salon/
biography
1971 Born in Philadelphia, USA, spent childhood in Kyoto, Japan.
1990 Grad. Phillips Academy, Andover, where I studied painting with Chris Cook, former curator of the Addison Gallery of American Art.
1994 BA in Art, Middlebury College, cum laude.
2001 Started painting professionally.
2015 Hiatus following my mothers death.
2022 Resumed painting professionally. I currently live and work in Osaka, Japan.