Signed and dated verso

Ryoko Endo gestural abstract paintings are constructed with a controlled yet fluid mark-making, reminiscent of Japanese calligraphy. The artist layers exuberant marks, strokes, and dabs with a fluent touch. Endo’s paintings are built-up with opaque and translucent layers of acrylic paint; the varied thicknesses of brushstrokes and pigments create a striking dynamism. The artist’s lifelong study of chromatic relationships informs her bold approach to color and structure: her mentor Kaikuo Saito - a second-generation Abstract Expressionist, employed vibrant colors to create large, immersive canvases. Endo works at the juncture of meditative Sumi calligraphy and energetic Abstract Expressionism, producing saturated colorscapes that are both precise and expressive. Given the hybridity of the forms and traditions Endo channels, her work creates a visual experience that is simultaneously contemplative and charged, deliberate and spontaneous—loose in gesture yet anchored in formal discipline.

In Urban Love, serpentine lines and bold brushwork snake through a gray-blue ground, bordered by pink, cream, and yellow ovoid clusters and bisected by horizontal streaks. Rhythmic arcs and dashes of color burst on the grayish field. Jewel-toned drips and lines contrast with the pastel-toned background. The top left and bottom right areas contain pink, teal, navy blue, maroon, and purple calligraphic scrawls: concentrated areas of energy, creating a balanced contrapuntal asymmetry. The diverse constellation of lines and brushstrokes contrast with the ground while the pastel and bold tones complement each other, exhibiting a play of orderly and disorderly/haphazard painting strategies.