Meeting Michelle Obama
In October, I had the honor of meeting Michelle Obama. I didn't just shake her hand, I felt her soulful presence in person backstage at the Sheraton Towers Hotel in Chicago. (I had been invited to the National Women's Leadership National Issues Conference to exhibit several of my original paintings including my scroll painting, Return to Old and New Orleans, a tribute to New Orleans post-Katrina).
Showing Michelle Obama my Art
Along with the exhibit, the National Finance Chair of Women for Obama had asked to bring a book of my paintings to give Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama was particularly moved by my millennial portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, The Unfinished Dream. I told her how a limited edition print of The Unfinished Dream had been presented as a gift from Stanford University to Rev. Bernice King in 2000, and how I was humbled to be named a Martin Luther King, Jr. Award recipient in 2006 for my commitment to my art serving community--- local, global & digital.
Black on White: Portrait of Michelle Obama
My portrait of Michelle is the Michelle I experienced—open, direct, warm, elegant and spiritual—iconic yet approachable, simple yet sophisticated, monumental yet stepping into our world. I called my black and white portrait of her Black on White to convey the multiple layers of history, aesthetics, values and aspirations her confident and powerful presence conveys.
Drue Kataoka: A Biracial Artist
I am particularly inspired by Michelle and Barack Obama because I also have a biracial heritage. I am a California artist with an American mother and Japanese father. I am East and West. I am new and old. Based in the "newest" place in the world (Silicon Valley) I harness an ancient 2000-year-old Zen art form of Sumi-e. My art is both international and uniquely American—I use the ancient, powerful strokes of my brush to paint modern American subject matter---a cultural roux of technology, jazz, sports and portraits shaping our global landscape.
2000 Year-old Black & White Art Form
The finest sumi inks are among the most nuanced black inks in the world. In my paintings, I re-imagine the embrace of black and white in the context of America's intertwined racial past and future. I have painted portraits of icons as diverse as Jazz at Lincoln Center's Wynton Marsalis, 49ers Coach Bill Walsh, music icon Duke Ellington, President Herbert Hoover, athletes Venus Williams and John Elway.
Negative Space in My Art
In the Zen art form of Sumi-e, meaning is carried through monochromatic, clean brush strokes—but even more in what lies between these brush strokes, the empty space, the area of the imagination. The black brush strokes are Michelle. The white space around those brush strokes, or "negative space" is you and me. It's thousands of Americans, and millions of people worldwide who look at Michelle and see themselves. But where does black end and white begin? The strokes and the spaces around them are inseparable. Like the Obama campaign and administration, my portrait is inclusive and open. Open to your interpretation, your participation and your involvement.