MARIKO Murase, a Japanese artist, held her first art exhibition in Jeddah at the House of Artists Gallery in Jamjoom mall, which was inaugurated by Takashih Ogawa, the Chairman of the Japanese Association in Jeddah. The exhibition was inaugurated on October 13, and will last for ten days, concluding on October 23. Murase said her adventurous nature brought her to Jeddah for her sixth self exhibition. Her method of painting is quite different, as she employs scratching, erasing, paste materials and add thick brush strokes to create original touches and a sense of depth on the canvas. “I love the way acrylic paints melt with splashes of water, I love witnessing that process which resembles discovering layers of my inner self,” said Murase. Her concept of art is not about cultural and political issues, but as an expression of her own private feelings in her everyday life, that are sometimes neglected by her and others. Murase's paintings are different from other artists as she says, “What I think is what I show, I don't explain myself in words, I implement and draw.” Murase's first self exhibition was at the Asian Art Café in USA in 2001, which showed her experiences and struggle as an artist. She not only paints on canvas, but has been working for magazines on cover designs, mural painting, T-shirt designing and teaching the basic concepts of art to children between the ages of 5 and 12. Murase's first exhibition in Jeddah was an invitation for the young talent in Saudi Arabia to experience a new style of painting. “Like a child who gets lost in the woods, trying to catch a beautiful butterfly, I travel into my inner landscape searching for the butterfly,” Murase said. __
