What is my artwork about?
I paint as though I’m cooking or driving. I map out a bunch of directions and make different types of color-coded drawings that plan and predict what the thing might look like, all the while anticipating the final outcome. Sometimes my paintings are maps for drawings, comics and prints. At times, I plan and plan and plan, and then break the rules. My work often looks like pieces of drawings and prints taped together, weaved with paint. I imagine my drawings in series of dimensional spaces. I think about how things in color and black-and-white relate.
Artist Statement
Education
2007 MFA Painting and Printmaking, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2004 BFA Illustration and Cartooning, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY2005 Art Student’s League, New York, NY
2002 Valencia Community College, Orlando, FL
Select Exhibitions
2015 Kijidome, James and Audrey Foster Prize Exhibition, ICA Boston, MA
2014 Not So Soft, Gallery La Peche, Los Angeles, CA Brooklyn Brain Frame 2, curated by Lyra Hill, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY
2013 The Pond, The Mirror, The Kaleidoscope, curated by Thomas Woodruff, Visual Arts Gallery,
School of Visual Arts, New York, NYImago Mundi, curated by Diego Cortez, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, collateral event byLuciano Benneton for Venice Biennale, Italy
2011 Goodbye Space Shuttle, The Active Space, Brooklyn, NY
2010 NeoIntegrity Comics Edition, curated by Keith Mayerson, Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, New York, NY
2009 Octet: Codes and Contexts in Visual Art, curated by Suzanne Anker, Peter Hristoff, PeraMuseum, Istanbul, Turkey, traveled to Visual Arts Gallery, School of Visual Arts, New York, NYGrand Champions Forever, Never Say Die, curated by John Breiner, Factory Fresh Gallery,
Brooklyn, NY
2008 Radar Eyes A Survey of Hallucinogenic Printmaking, Co Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, IL
traveled to Art Car Museum, Houston, TX
2007 Thesis Exhibition, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CTNeoIntegrity, curated by Keith Mayerson, Derek Eller, New York, NYHooray, curated by Andreis Costa, Proposition, New York, NYNew Mutants, curated by Dan Nadel, Canada, New York, NYSecret Fire Escape, My Hero Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2006 Words and Pictures Show, curated by Leslie Stein, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
2005 100 Years of Heimatschutz, Municipal Library, Biel, Switzerland
2004 Baby’s Bathwater, curated by Keith Mayerson, Asterisk, Brooklyn, NY Suburban Sex and Supermen, curated by Duane Bruton, Westside Gallery, New York, NYScreened, curated by Gunars Prande, Visual Arts Gallery, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY Grand Champions Forever and Ever, Office Ops, Brooklyn, NY Franklin Peppermint Gallery
2004 Show, Franklin Peppermint, New York, NY
2003 NeoIntegrity Burnt to a Crisp, curated by Keith Mayerson, Asterisk, Brooklyn, NYAmerican Gothic American Noir, curated by Thomas Woodruff, PPOW, New York, NY Basement Group Show, Niagara Bar, New York, NYAwards
2007 Barry Cohen Scholarship2006 Yale School of Art Summer Teaching Fellowship2004 School of Visual Arts Rhodes Family Award in Illustration Shakespeare & Co. Publishing GrantSociety of Illustrators Meg Wohlberg Award
2003 Gilbert Stone ScholarshipPublished Comics2014 X.O. Exoplanets, The Brooklyn Rail, February.
2013 Momoko Rose, Chromazoid 2, January.
2012 Dark Tomato 2, The Brooklyn Rail, November.
Pigeons, Bums, Burning Bright, Tinhouse, Portland Brooklyn #53: (Vol.4 No.1 Fall).
2011 Dark Tomato, Domino Books2009 You Turn My Lights, Windy Corner Magazine #3. January.
You, The Holster
2006 When M Met TV, T-Shirt Comic, MTVSelf-Published Comics2014 Foot Anime Book (10 min.)
2006 Flash East Broadway
2005 Cheebcheebshkaa2004 The Purse of the Raisin-god
Let’s DanceHeimat: The Story of Chinita Juanita BananaJason Will Always Be My HeroYeah Yeah Yeah Let’s Start With The Things That Are Good To EatT-shirt Comic: Tuxedo Spottie
2003 Jason Is My Hero
2002 Barf
Chiquita Juanita BananaBuena Park Good Park
Bibliography
Print“The Pond, The Mirror, The Kaleidoscope.” The Visual Arts Press, August 2013.Juxtapoz Magazine. “Event: The Pond, The Mirror, The Kaleidoscope, The School of Visual Arts in NYCCelebrates the Neo-Symbolist.” Issue 151. August 13, 2013.Grant, Michael. “Upon Reflection.” Visual Arts Journal. Spring 2013.Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. “NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition.” The NeoIntegrity Omnibus. April 2013.Octet: Selected Works from the School of Visual Arts, New York. August 2009.Mayerson, Keith. “NeoIntegrity.” August 2007.Percivall, Gustav. “Sakura Maku.” Yale School of Art 2007 MFA Painting-Printmaking Catalog. May 2007.Hooray. Published by the Holster. December 2006.
Web“Q&A with Artist Sakura Maku: From Freddy Kreuger to Garfield.” (blog). September 6, 2013.http://blog.sva.edu/2013/09/qa-with-artist-sakura-maku-from-freddy-kreuger-to-garfield/Clough, Robert, “Top Fifteen Comic Books of 2011.” (blog). February 13, 2012.http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/2012/01/top-fifteen-comic-books-of-2011.htmlPusack, Elizabeth. “Q and A: Sakura Maku.” (blog). September 6, 2012.http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/16946/q-and-a-sakura-maku.htmlAnderson, Maria. “Preview: Goodbye Space Shuttle @ Curbs and Stoops Active Space.” White HotMagazine, July 2011. http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/shuttle-curbs-stoops-active-space/2337English, Austin. “20 Questions with Sakura Maku.” Domino Books. April 14, 2011.http://dominobooksnews.com/2011/04/14/20-quesitons-with-sakura-maku/Clough, Robert. “Memory and Form: Windy Corner Magazine #3.” (blog). August 27, 2009.http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/2009/08/memory-and-form-windy-corner-magazine-3.html
Web“Q&A with Artist Sakura Maku: From Freddy Kreuger to Garfield.” (blog). September 6, 2013.http://blog.sva.edu/2013/09/qa-with-artist-sakura-maku-from-freddy-kreuger-to-garfield/Clough, Robert, “Top Fifteen Comic Books of 2011.” (blog). February 13, 2012.http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/2012/01/top-fifteen-comic-books-of-2011.htmlPusack, Elizabeth. “Q and A: Sakura Maku.” (blog). September 6, 2012.http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/16946/q-and-a-sakura-maku.htmlAnderson, Maria. “Preview: Goodbye Space Shuttle @ Curbs and Stoops Active Space.” White HotMagazine, July 2011. http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/shuttle-curbs-stoops-active-space/2337English, Austin. “20 Questions with Sakura Maku.” Domino Books. April 14, 2011.http://dominobooksnews.com/2011/04/14/20-quesitons-with-sakura-maku/Clough, Robert. “Memory and Form: Windy Corner Magazine #3.” (blog). August 27, 2009.http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/2009/08/memory-and-form-windy-corner-magazine-3.html
Work Experience
2015 Adjunct Instructor, SVA Illustration, Linocut Color Book Inventions
2015 Adjunct Instructor, SUNY Purchase, Foundation Visual Language
2015 Adjunct Instructor, SVA Advertising, Foundation Drawing
2015 Artist Teacher, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, New York
2014 – 2015 Adjunct Instructor, SVA Design, Intermediate Drawing
2014 – 2015 Artist Teacher, Dedalus Foundation, Brooklyn, NY
2014 – 2015 Artist Teacher, Time In Children’s Art Initiative, New York
2014 – 2015 Artist Teacher, Hi Art, New York
10/22/2013 Visiting Artist, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2013 Juror, Ignatz Awards, Small Press Expo, Bethesda, MD
2013 – 2015 Adjunct Instructor, SVA Illustration Summer Pre-College, Linocut-Bookmaking
2013 – 2014 Adjunct Instructor, SVA Cartooning Summer Pre-College, Storytelling
2011 – 2014 Studio Assistant, Deborah Kass Studio, Brooklyn, NY
11/09/2010 Visiting Artist, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
2009 – 2015 Substitute Instructor, SVA Cartooning, Model Drawing, Storytelling
2007 – 2013 Printmaking Lab Assistant, SVA Fine Arts
2007 Teaching Assistant, Yale School of Art, Introductory Silkscreen, New Haven, CT
2006 – 2007 Graduate Gallery Teacher, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
2006 Yale School of Art Summer Teaching Fellowship, Painting Basics,
New Haven, CT
2006 Printshop Monitor, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT2004 – 2005 Light and Music Performance / Instrument Making Assistant, Gary Panter, live
performances for Visual Music, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC
2004 Cashier, Utrecht Art Supply Store, New York2004 Puppeteer / Prop and Costume Making Assistant, Keith Mayerson, an experimental play at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater at St. Mark’s Church on theBowery, New York
2000 – 2002 America Reads Challenge Tutor, Warren Street Center for Children and Families,
Brooklyn, NY