Ellen Salk: Utamaro Dreams of the Great Unknown

"To top it off, Salk adds a layer of conceptual contrast by creating new works with old (and Eastern) inspiration, namely through the influence of the famed Japanese painter and print-maker Kitagawa Utamaro, who worked in the latter half of the 1700s, and after whom Salk's new paintings are named.

The Utamaro reference could bring into focus a host of other juxtapositions, for example, that between the masculine and the feminine, which seem also to be present in Salk's work. I think the list could go on, however, rather than enumerate all the ways in which Salk employs contrast in order to achieve depth, I will leave the pleasure of their discovery to your own eyes." - Drew Snyder