Tokyo-based Miwa Komatsu populates her vibrant paintings with mystical Japanese creatures in a chaos of line and color. The beasts are shown in their traditional roles as guardians and gate keepers; here a pair of horned lion-dogs stare up at a radiant, golden form. The intensely worked lines in this piece are evidence of her past as a printmaker and draftsman, and chronicle her energetic application, sometimes directly from paint tubes. Komatsu has performed her expressive painting process in front of live audiences, most recently at the 2018 Dallas Art Fair.
