2331 St. Claude Ave and Spain, New Orleans, LA 70113  •  504-525-2767 (6246)   •   Mon-Sat 10am-5pm  • Directions

Mars Tokyo  

Black on Black Series (2007 ongoing)	Teeny Theaters	Pastels
Artist's Statement: Mars Tokyo's career  spans three decades and can be divided into three distinct bodies of work.     The pastel drawings, done in the early 80's  were driven by discoveries she experienced in relocating from her childhood home in the mid-west to the Hudson Valley of New York.  There she became enamored of roadside diner cuisine and culture which she translated into vibrant colorful pastel drawings. Alive with an energy and flavor, these drawings were frequently finished with an overlay of wild color streaks and dashes meant to convey a sense of immediacy.     In 2001, as an outgrowth of an earlier box assemblage series, Mars Tokyo took on the challenge of working in extreme miniature scale with a series of what she called the teeny theaters. Tiny dioramas so small they fit in the one's palm, the theaters' scale provides the viewer with an intimate experience, not unlike the worlds we once created as children with our toys. Because the work can only be viewed by one person at a time, the experience is at once intimate and powerful. The subject matter of the theaters is as engaging, narrative and dramatic as a large scale theatrical production can be. This work is also the subject matter for a series of photo enlargements that distort the original scale, flipping it to the opposite end of the spectrum creating a more ambiguous viewing experience.     In 2007, as part of a lifelong battle with depression and mood disorders, the artist underwent a series of eleven ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy) treatments. The course was unsuccessful and left the artist with memory loss and brain damage that took several months to crawl away from. During that period of recovery the Black on Black series was born in an effort to express the experience the artist underwent. Using heavy print paper soaked in India Ink and graphite pencil the series began with one maze like meandering continuous line. Gradually as symptoms subside the ink was diluted with water and powdered graphite, and the line  fragmented into pieces. As black areas faded to grey, the fragmented lines revealed figures and demons. The series is still in progress,  continuing forward until it will conclude in all white.