SEIZAN Gallery invites you to a special lecture and conversation featuring ink artist Keiko Arai and Susie Ferrell, Associate Curator of Chinese Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Held as the closing event of INKSCAPE, Arai’s first solo exhibition in the United States, this special program will begin with a lecture by Ferrell on Ink Painting of East Asia, exploring the tradition’s rich history and the ways contemporary artists are pushing the boundaries of monochrome expression. The lecture will be followed by a conversation between Arai and Ferrell, reflecting on Ferrell’s 2023 visit to Arai’s studio and discussing how Arai’s practice challenges conventional approaches to ink painting and carries the medium into the future. A casual mixer with refreshments will follow the talk.

Keiko Arai (b. 1963, Tokyo) is a self-taught ink painter who has exhibited widely in Japan, France, and Korea. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at the Nara Prefectural Museum of Art Gallery, Chiba City Museum, and Funabashi Andersen Park/Children’s Museum of Art. Her work has also been featured in group exhibitions at the 30th International TANNAN Art Festival, Centre culturel Les Fosses d’enfer (France), the Museum of Modern Art in Saitama, and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Arai has completed several public commissions, including fusuma-e (sliding door paintings) for Okamoto Shrine and Otaki Shrine in Fukui, Hojoji Temple in Chiba, and the Udatsu Paper and Craft Museum in Fukui. Arai lives and works in Chiba, Japan.

Susie Ferrell is Associate Curator of Chinese Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A specialist in contemporary Chinese art, she has worked closely with both the Yuz Foundation Collection and the Fondation INK Collection, comprising over 400 promised gifts of contemporary Chinese and global ink art. Since joining LACMA in 2016, Ferrell has curated or co-curated numerous exhibitions, including The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, The Abode of Illusions: The Garden of Zhang Daqian (Yuz Museum, Shanghai), Ink Dreams: Selections from the Fondation INK Collection, Legacies of Exchange: Chinese Contemporary Art from the Yuz Foundation, Zheng Chongbin: Golden State, and Line, Form, Qi: Calligraphic Art from the Fondation INK Collection. She holds an MA in the History of Art from The Courtauld Institute and a BA in Art History and Fine Art from Scripps College.

Time: 2:00-4:00 pm EST

Free!

Registration