Memento Mori: Recent Works by Mark Kadota
September 21 - December 5, 2001

Mark Kadota was born in Los Angeles, California in 1951 and moved to Hawai'i in 1971. Although not formally trained, Kadota is a multi-faceted artist and has worked as a painter, potter, dancer, musician, writer, teacher, curator and performance artist. A world traveler, Kadota has exhibited in Europe, the continental United States, and at numerous venues in Honolulu including The Contemporary Museum and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i.

Kadota is primarily known for his abstract mixed-media paintings, yet recently expanded his subject matter to include still-life compositions. His exhibition, titled Memento Mori, translates from Latin as "I Remember Death." This title is partially inspired by Dutch 17th-century masters, whose still lifes allude to the brevity of life and the vanity of all worldly things. Kadota is intrigued by the symbolism and hidden meanings that these master works convey, and even chose Dutch proverbs to title works in this exhibition.

Yet differences in lighting and subject matter between the Dutch still-life genre and Kadota's own contemporary viewpoint also allow for comparison of the two cultural periods. For example, Kadota personalizes his compositions, representing objects that display—in a most contemporary sense—fleeting pleasures of the world: processed foods, cigarettes, condoms, credit cards, cellular phones and home appliances.