About the artist:

1939 Born in Tokyo, Japan 1966 Moved to New York Residency: Duke University, January 1996 Grant: Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, 1996 Kikuo Saito was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1939 and moved to New York City in 1966. As a young man, he was a studio assistant to Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland and Larry Poons. Along with his painting practice, Saito is recognized for his poetic theater works that incorporated costumes, light, music and dance. His knowledge of choreography and stage direction directly influenced his approach to painting. Typically, he painted on the floor, circling and moving over the canvas to create each composition. The resultant works are rhythmic, gestural and expressionistic. As art critic Karen Wilkin explains, "We discover that characters from his stage pieces have been reincarnated as abstract configurations within his paintings, reborn as the records of animated gestures that retain the individuality of their sources. The backdrop of a performance has influenced the layout and the component elements of paintings. The slow rhythms of a stage piece have somehow been transubstantiated into a slow accretion of marks across a surface.” Saito’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. His work is included in public and private collections such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Aldrich Museum, Connecticut; Duke University Museum of Art, North Carolina; AT&T Collection, New York; Estee Lauder Collection, New York; J.P. Morgan Chase Collection, New York and the World Bank, Washington, D.C. ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS 1976 Deitcher/O'Reilly Galleries, New York, February 7 - March 4. Deitcher/O'Reilly Galleries, New York, November 13 - December 8 1977 William Edward O'Reilly, Inc., New York, May 21 -June 11 1978 William Edward O'Reilly, Inc., New York, April 1 -29 S.G. Mathews Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, June 8 -July 19 1979 S.G. Mathews Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, May 8 -June 19 William Edward O'Reilly, Inc., New York, October 2 -November 10 1980 S.G. Mathews Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, June 12 -July 12 Salander -O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, November 6 - 29 1981 Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, Austria, January 27 - February 28 Hett Gallery, Edmonton, Canada, June 6 - 20 Galerie Ninety-Nine, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, October 16 - November 6 1982 Medicine Hat Museum, Alberta, Canada, January 29 -February 21 1983 Hett Gallery, Edmonton, Canada, March 19 - April 8 Salander - O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, December1 - 31 1984 Il Punto Blu Gallery, Southampton, New York, February11 - March 28 1985 Salander -O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, February 2 - 28 1986 Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida, January 5-22 Salander -O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, April 2 - 26 1987 Galerie Don Stewart, Montreal, Canada, May 13 - 30 Images Gallery, Toledo, Ohio, June 2 - 30 Eva Cohon Gallery, Chicago, November 7 - December 5 1988 Salander - O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, March 2 - April 1 Waddington & Shiell Galleries, Toronto, Canada, May 18 - June 8 Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida, November 11 -December 3 1989 Galerie Don Stewart, Montreal, Canada, April 8 - 26 Eva Cohon Gallery, Chicago, April 28 - June 1 Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London, England, May 26 -June 25 1991 Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, January 5-31 Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., Beverly Hills, California, February 12 - March 16 1992 Gallery Three, Palm Beach, Florida, January 3-February 7 Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida, December 10 1993 Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London, England, February 19-March 21 Blaffer-Robinson Gallery, Houston, Texas. April 29-May 29 "Kikuo Saito: A True Colorist," Fort Lauderdale Museum, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, August 7-October 7 Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, June 10-July 3 Eva Cohon Gallery, Chicago, October 8- November 10 1994 Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia, November 4-December 24 1995 Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London, England, September 15-October 21 1996 Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, January 19-March 31 Marita Gilliam Gallery, Raleigh, North Carolina, January 21-February 29 Galerie BMB, Amsterdam, Holland, December 8-January 18. 1997 Galerie Thiele, Linz Austria, April 3 - April 30. Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, December 16 - January 3. 1998 Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida, November 12 - December 5. 1999 Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan, February 6 - 28. Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, July 7 - August 28. 2000 Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida, May 4 - May 27. GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1970 "Young American Painters," Reese Palley Gallery, New York 1972 "Contemporary Reflections," Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut "Four Painters," LoGuidice Gallery, New York "Group Guest Show," Andre Emmerich, New York "Group Invitation," Musee Galerie, Paris 1973 "Group," LoGuidice Gallery, New York "Group," Soho Center for the Visual Arts, New York 1975 Invitational, Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan 1976 Group Show, Deitcher/O'Reilly Galleries, New York Group Show, Gray Gallery, New York University, New York 1977 Group Show, United States Mission to the United Nations, New York 1978 "Shape and Field," Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York 1979 "Painting and Sculpture by Candidates for Art Awards," American Academy and Institute for Arts and Letters, New York Group Show, Galerie Ninety-Nine, Bay Harbour Islands, Florida Group Show, Watson de Nagy Gallery, Houston, Texas 1980 "ROSC International Exhibition," Dublin, Ireland "Art 80," Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland "The Next Generation: A Curator's Choice," Andre Emmerich, New York "Inaugural Exhibition," Salander-O'Reilly Galleries Inc., New York 1981 "Keller, Saito and Sutton," Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Canada Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland Group Show, Watson de Nagy, Houston, Texas IV Medellin Biennial, Medellin, Colombia, South America Group Show, Clayworks, Studio Workshop, New York "Uniquely Painted Prints," Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York "Phoenix," Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany Group Show, Rubiner Gallery, Royal Oak, Michigan "Boxer, Olitski, Poons, Saito," Gallery Ulysses, Vienna, Austria Group Show, Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City Group Show, Sarah Y. Rentschler Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York Group Show, Ivory Klimpton, San Francisco, California 1982 Group Show, Martha White Gallery, Kentucky Group Show, Ken Heffel Fine Arts, Vancouver, Canada "Saito and Roth," Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London England "Saito, Slone and Zox," Gallery One, Toronto, Canada "Contemporary Abstractionists," Rubiner Gallery, Royal Oak, Michigan Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland 1983 Group Show, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York 1984 Group Show, Martha White Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky Group Show, Hett Gallery, Edmonton, Canada Group Show, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York Group Show, Il Punto Blu Gallery, Southampton, New York "Artists Choose Artists," Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Canada 1985 "Private Treasures From San Antonio Collections," San Antonio Museum, Texas Group Show, Griffin-Haller Gallery, Washington Depot, Connecticut Group Show, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York "Artist's Salute the Return of Halley's Comet," Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 1986 Group Show, Robert Kidd Galery, Birmingham, Michigan Group Show, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York Group Show, Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida 1987 "New Abstract Prints," Associated American Artists, New York Group Show, John Szoke Gallery, New York Group Show, Kathleen Laverty Gallery, Edmonton, Canada Group Show, Waddington & Shiell Galleries, Toronto, Canada Group Show, Satani Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 1988 Group Show, Silvermine Gallery, Stamford, Connecticut "Paperworks," John Szoke Gallery, New York Group Show, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York Group Show, Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London, England 1989 "Art for All," Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Canada Group Show, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York Group Show, Dubins Gallery, Los Angeles, California Group Show, Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London, England "Important Works on Paper," Meredith Long, Houston, Texas 1990 "Group: 1990," Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, February 2 - 28 [Exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Peter Stuyvesant Collection], Turmac Tobacco Company B.V., Zevenaar, Netherlands "Art '90," London Contemporary Art Fair, International Art Fair, London, England "Works on Paper," Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London, England Group Show, Stewart Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada 1991 "Gallery Selections," Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, February Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Collection, Seville and Zoragoza, Spain Group Show, Galerie Ulysses, New York "Inaugural Exhibition," Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Berlin, Germany, September 25 - October 26 "15th Anniversity Exhibition," Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan 1992 Group Show, Helander Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida Group Show, C.S. Schulte Gallery, South Orange, NJ "Five Years," Francis Graham-Dixon Gallery, London, England "Abstract Painters Who Paint Landscapes," Schulte Gallery, South Orange, New Jersey 1993 Group Show, Schultz Gallery, Milburn, New Jersey 1994 Group Show, Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida Group Show, Vero Beach Centre for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida 1995 "Olitski, Poons, Saito," Zeckendorf Towers, New York Group Show, Steven Haller Gallery, New York FIAC, Paris Art Fair, Paris, France "Toys R Art," Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida 1996 "Twentieth Anniversary," Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, Michagan. "Abstractions," Barbara Scott Gallery, Miami, Florida. 1998 "Abstraction II," Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York. 2001 Clement Greenberg: A Critic's Collection, Portland, Oregon.