Drue Kataoka

Drue is a contemporary artist based in Silicon Valley. Born in Tokyo and trained in Sumi-e. A graduate of Stanford University. Her artworks have integrated Japanese brush painting techniques with mirrors, gunshots, hospital beds, alpine snow water and storm and heartbeat recordings. Recently she sent a painting into space for the first zero-gravity art exhibit at the International Space Station. She received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research & Education Institute Award for her extensive community service.

Artist Statement

The technique I use is two millennia old, and was originally practiced by Zen monks in Japan as a way to train the mind and spirit in meditation and unforced precision. Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's most legendary swordsman, was also a practitioner of this art technique. In parallel with the brush-painted core, I create a conceptual environment inside which each painting lives. To do that, I have wounded my paintings...