Marc Katano: Selected Paintings 1990-2026
May 16 – July 2, 2026
Opening reception: Saturday, May 16th, 3–5 pm
Remarks: 3:30pm
Paul Thiebaud Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Marc Katano: Selected Paintings 1990-2026 on Saturday, May 16th, from 3-5pm, with remarks at 3:30pm. Surveying the past three and a half decades of Katano’s paintings on canvas and handmade paper, the nine works in the exhibition reveal the evolution of his process for creating abstract compositions. Whether cut into plywood sheets, brushed onto canvas or handmade paper, or cut away using a razor, Katano’s paintings embody abundant possibilities for aesthetic expression through personal mark making. The exhibition will be on view through July 2, 2026.
Over more than 50 years, Marc Katano’s work has been guided by the act of inscription. Growing up as a United States “army brat” in Japan, the kanji and hiragana of the signage around him were pictographs without any meaning beyond their forms, and would eventually come to be the inspiration and manifestation of his imagery.
In works such as MK91-50 (1991), Katano has covered the plywood panel with organic shapes in oil based Paintstik, into which he later carved patterns of flowing lines using a woodcutting tool to expose the raw wood beneath. A similar process of carving as a form of erasure using a razor appears in his newest works, like Drishti 14 (2025).
In evocative works such as Grace (2000) and Half Light (2009), Katano has employed a brush and stick, respectively, to create forms that resemble leaves or petals, although any direct association was not his intention. A similar process took place with Fools Errand (2024) and Bookmatch (2017).Katano created the more minimal works Unfolding Bloom (2007) and Sub Rosa (2008) by painting forms in a contrasting color over the background, then washing away paint that was still wet, leaving edges and random areas adhering to the ground, and imparting a sense of change and serendipity to each work. In See (2019), Katano layered thin washes of the same tone of acrylic, producing compositions full of vivid depth and suspended movement.
Full of grace and sensuousness, Katano creates abstractions that exist within the realm of the transcendent and sublime.
Marc Katano was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1952. In 1975, he earned his Bachelors of Fine Art with Distinction from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland (now California College of the Arts, San Francisco), and in 1981 he received the SECA Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His paintings have been exhibited across the United States, and in Italy and Japan. His work is in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Crocker Art Museum, Honolulu Museum of Art, San Jose Museum of Art, and the Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, among others. This is Marc Katano’s first solo exhibition with Paul Thiebaud Gallery.
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