Alison Moritsugu
Big Pinapple, 2007
oil on panel, koa frame
41 ¼ x 43 ¼ inches
Photo by Stefen Petrik

Alison Moritsugu
Invasive Repeat, Octopus Tree, (detail), 2007
digital wallpaper on wood panel
96 x 146 ½ inches

Paradise Revisted: Paintings by Alison Moritsugu
The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center
October 5, 2007 - January 8, 2008
 
Born in Honolulu, Alison Moritsugu moved away to attend college. Now, when she returns to Hawai'i every few years, changes to the local landscape and culture are vastly apparent. What she once believed to be a "kind of paradise", she now more clearly sees as an ecosystem in peril. The paintings and sculpture in Paradise Revisited looks at Hawai'i's idealized identity throughout history: First, as a tropical eden; later, as a land of opportunity for trade and profit; and finally, as a tourist destination. In this exhibition, Moritsugu includes works that are part of an ongoing series in which she paints directly on logs and log slices, wallpaper pieces, paintings, and sculpture.

Moritsugu was born and raised in Hawai'i and lives in Beacon, New York. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows at numerous galleries and museums in the US.