Opening Reception Friday, February 26, 4:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Johnny Tanaka to exhibit latest paintings at MAWL
Garden Grove, CA Mawl is proud to announce a new suite of paintings by international painter Johnny Tanaka opening Friday, February 26. Tanaka’s latest series of large scale works on panel fuse zen calligraphy and western abstract expressionism. “I visited Swaziland in my youth. I was dazzled by the bright wall paintings the women made for their houses” the artist explains, in reference to the intense color palette of his current body of work. A lifelong practitioner of zen, Tanaka brings his spiritual discipline to the studio, where his spontaneous yet deliberate gestures record an intense relationship with paint informed by a multicultural approach to form and language.
Johnny Tanaka was born in Cerritos, CA in 1980. Born to a Marine father and Japanese mother, Tanaka grew up on military bases around the world. He received his BFA from the Glasgow School Design and his MFA from the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design. His paintings have been shown internationally. This is the artist’s first exhibition in Garden Grove.
