Chieko Murasugi was born in Tokyo, raised in Toronto, and based in San Francisco for 20 years before moving to North Carolina in 2012. She has degrees in Experimental Psychology (BA McGill, Ph.D. York U) and Studio Art (BFA York U, MFA UNC-Chapel Hill). She has exhibited her work nationally in galleries and museums, and her paintings reside in the public collections of the City of Raleigh, Durham, and Duke University. She is a co-founder and co-curator of BASEMENT, a group that promotes works by contemporary artists with roots in the SouthEast. She and her neuroscientist husband are the parents of two adult children.
In my paintings, textiles, and collage works I employ abstraction and materials to explore questions of family, history, and perception. From the Japanese diaspora, I consider the meaning of home and identity, and whether such unitary concepts are relevant in an era of globalization. As a descendant of Samurai warriors and victims of WWII Tokyo fire bombings, I question how glorifying violence and war can exist alongside a desire for peace; and why memories of war’s horrors are so short. I also investigate the notion of “truth,” a concept frequently disparaged or doubted through intentional misinformation, and by perceptual and cognitive limitations. Finally, my works incorporate chance/random elements, evoking the interplay between chance and intention. I explore these various issues in my practice by using personal archives, perceptual illusions, and digitally aided randomization.