Mayuko Ono Gray: 諸行無常_This too, shall pass

Mayuko Ono Gray’s exhibition, 諸行無常_This too, shall pass, features the artist’s monumental graphite drawings that juxtapose Japanese calligraphic forms with depictions of the people, animals, and still lifes captured in her daily experiences. Reflecting on her life, which is culturally both Japanese and American, Ono Gray’s graphite drawings hybridize influences from traditional Japanese calligraphy combined with Western drawing practices and aesthetics. Each drawing is titled with a Japanese proverb spelled out with hiragana and kanji characters intertwined to create a single line from the top right to the lower left of the pictorial space, following traditional Japanese writing format. The line serves as a metaphor for life and the path taken from birth to death. Through this work Ono Gray navigates her position living between two cultures and languages.

Mayuko Ono Gray is an artist based in Houston, Texas, whose primary medium is graphite drawing. Born in Japan, she was trained in traditional Japanese calligraphy in her youth and later studied classical Western drawing. Ono Gray moved to the United States following high school and went on to receive an MFA in painting from the University of Houston in 2007. Her work has been exhibited extensively in the United States and abroad, including exhibitions in Japan, Mexico, Germany, Italy, UK, and Greece. Her works are represented by Hooks-Epstein Galleries in Houston and Galeria 910 in Oaxaca, Mexico.