Mina Oka Hanig
Most of Mina’s paintings consist of small squares, creating a mosaic-like effect. Each square is different from the others – like words in a dictionary – and is arranged on the canvas like phrases and paragraphs in a book. This modular approach helps her establish unexpected visual rhythms and the push and pull of contrasting qualities. Her embraces the coexistence and tension of chaos and control in seeing the world around her: simplicity and complexity, clarity and ambiguity, and boldness and subtlety. Each defines the opposite quality, as in the yin and yang of oriental philosophy. She conveys the balance that expresses her feeling the most: active passages embraced by quiet ones; hard edges smoothed into soft ones; brightness defined by darkness; and warmth heightened by coolness. By controlling the basic forms with square boundaries, the process allows her to concentrate on other elements of design. Her book of phrases is expanded, revised, and revamped many times over since she began working in this style in 2007.
A series of paintings is like a chapter in Mina’s book. Most chapters are about her interest in observing the force of nature. As Jerri Castillo of ARTifice wrote in a review of her show, Mina’s work speaks of nature and elements of it without the words; from far away squares look like painted slate as if they have a weight to them; up close “you are surprised to see that it is just paper, soft and delicate, painted and adhered to canvas. The canvas gives the painting its weight, it acts like the earth…” Another critic wrote that “…small glowing squares arranged in patterns that evoke light, playfulness
and thoughtfulness…”
Line and color are the two most important elements in Mina’s painting – they engage her at the most expressive level. Her training in calligraphy echoes in her use of linear elements, while colors give emotional depth to her work. She paints mostly in acrylic and mixed media on canvas and paper and often in a long format resembling Japanese scrolls. She was born and raised in Osaka, Japan and has worked most of her adult life in Washington D.C. area. She is keenly aware of her own cultural heritage and search for ways to preserve it in her art, combined with the influences gained from the wide range of art available around her. She maintains a working studio (#7) at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia.
