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 Song of Jamaica, contrasting shades of tangerine, pink and yellow, offset by dabs of white, blue and brown, create a vibrant tonal interplay. The broad, vertical planes of color, which define the composition’s structure, are punctuated by horizontal bands. The intersections of diverse brushstrokes and colors enliven the canvas. Blue, red, brown and white hues reoccur in the top right and top left sections while brown, white, yellow, and pink shades occupy both the bottom right and bottom left corners. These parallels create a sense of symmetry and balance in the energetic all-over composition.