Mayumi Lake at Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery

Using patterns scanned and printed from her collection of vintage kimonos, Chicago-based artist Mayumi Lake creates floral abstractions – adding a fringe of beads and other elements – that mix tradition and contemporary life.  Designed to resemble huge flowers that might decorate a sacred place, the blooms grow in size and color in proportion to life’s difficulties.  (On view at Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery in Chelsea through May 25th).

Mayumi Lake, Unison (Orgel-Merry), pigment print, imitation gold leaf, plastic, wire and wood, 43 x 33 inches, 2017.

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Merrily Kerr

Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education. For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine. Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)