Clara Leigh Mikimoto
Born in 1979,Japan

Exhibition
2019 Able Fine Art NY Gallery, New York, USA
2018 Able Fine Art NY Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2017 2 People Exhibition, Able Fine Art NY Gallery, New York, USA
2016 Solo Exhibition, Able Fine Art NY Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2015 Solo Exhibition, Able Fine Art NY Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2015 Solo Exhibition, Able Fine Art NY Gallery, New York, USA
2015 Group Exhibition, Able Fine Art NY Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2015 Group Exhibition, Able Fine Art NY Gallery, New York, USA

Art Fair
2024    Context MIAMI.  USA
2024    AAF Singapore. USA
2024    AAF new york. USA
2024    Seattle art fair. USA
2024    AAF Hong Kong Hong Kong
2024    San Francisco Art Fair USA
2024    LA Art Show USA
2023    Scope MiamiBeach art Fair, Miami, USA
2023    Context Miami, Miami, USA
2023    Aaf Singapore. Singapore
2023    Aaf Battersea Park. London UK
2023    Art on Paper. USA
2023    Aaf New York, USA
2023    Hampton Fine Art New York, USA
2023    AAF Sydney. Austria
2023    AAF hong kong_HONG kONG
2023    AAF Brussels. Belgium
2022    Red dot Miami. Miami  USA
2022    Aaf Singapore. Singapore
2022    Aaf Battersea Park. London UK
2022    Art on Paper. USA
2019    Context Miami, Miami, USA
2019    Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2019    Affordable Art Fair Battersea Park, London, UK
2019    Art Expo Malaysia, MECC, Malaysia
2019    Affordable Art Fair Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2019    Affordable Art Fair Hampstead, Hampstead, UK
2019    Affordable Art Fair Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
2019    London Art Fair, London, UK
2018    Context Miami, Miami, USA
2018    Affordable Art Fair Battersea Park, London, UK
2018    Art Expo, New York, USA
2018    Context NY, New York, USA
2018    Art Expo, Las Vegas, USA
2017    Affordable Art Fair Battersea Park, London, UK
2017    Affordable Art Fair New York, New York, USA
2017    GIAF, Changwon, Korea
2017    Art Gyeongju, Gyeongju, Korea
2017    Art Show Busan, Busan, Korea
2017    Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
2017    Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Singapore
2017    Architectural Digest Design Show, PIERS 92 & 94, New York, USA
2017    Art Up, Parc Expo Rouen, Avenue des Canadiens, France
2017    LA Art Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, USA
2016    ST.ART Fair, Strasbourg, France
2016    AAF Singapore, Singapore
2016    Daegu Art Fair, Daegu, Korea
2016    ART.FAIR Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2016    Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London, UK
2016    Affordable Art Fair Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2016    Art Hamptons Market, NY, USA
2016    Art Hamptons, NY, USA
2016    Art Busan, Busan, Korea
2016    Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
2016    Art Gyeongju, Gyeongju, Korea
2016    Affordable Art Fair Milano, Milano, Italy
2016    LA ART SHOW 2016, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, USA
2015    Daegu Art Fiar, Daegu, Korea
2015    Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London, UK
2015    Korea International Art Fair (KIAF), COEX, Seoul, Korea
2015    Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London, UK
2015    Baltimore Antique Fair, Baltimore, USA
2015    SEOUL OPEN ART FAIR (SOAF), COEX, Seoul, Korea
2015    Art Busan, Busan, Korea
2015    Art Gyeongju, Gyeongju, Korea
2014    Baltimore Antique Fair, Baltimore, USA
2014    Affordable Art Fair London Hampstead, London, UK
2014    Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Singapore
2014    Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
2014    Art Expo New York, New York, USA
2013    Red Dot Miami, Miami, USA
2013    Affordable Art Fair London Battersea, London, UK
2013    Affordable Art Fair Singapore, Singapore
2013    Affordable Art Fair New York, New York, USA

The Silent Music of Clara Leigh Mikimoto

- Mary Gregory
Finding resonances with earlier artists who worked in collage and ready-mades, artist Clara Leigh has developed a body of work that sings in a unique voice.
In the early 1900s, artists like Picasso, Braque and Gris built complex works of art out of paint and canvas, but also newspaper, books, wood, and, occasionally, sheet music.  As the vision evolved, so did the expression, and the materials used to accomplish it grew wider and more varied.  For Picasso, the guitar was a magical object, as could be seen in a recent exhibition at the Museum of Modern in New York.  The guitar was constructed, deconstructed, built and depicted over and over in his work in two and three dimensions.
Leigh finds her inspiration primarily in the sensuous, sinuous lines of the violin.  Perhaps no other instrument suggests the human form as much as does the curving, narrow-waisted violin.  Man Ray's classic Dada image Ingre's Violin comes to mind viewing Leigh's multi-layered compositions.
Sheet music, intentionally stained to suggest the passage of years, forms the foundation of her constructions, as it does for a musical performance.  Leigh's collaged pages of written music are then covered by parts of, or sometimes complete musical instruments.  Violins and bows are the primary focus, but wind instruments and brass are also sometimes incorporated.

The effect Leigh creates is a multi-media experience of music that is, strangely, mute.  The viewer can see the shine and warmth of metal or polished wood.  He or she can see the complex technicality of notes arranged on a page.  But to hear the music, the artist calls upon memory and imagination.   
Art is not a direct form of communication.  There is, hopefully, always something lost, something gained, something changed by the act of creation, and again, in the act of seeing.  It is a mysterious gift that can never be experienced the same way twice.
Music has been an inspiration for visual artists for ages.  Renaissance angels play lutes in the heavens.  Painters from the Baroque to Cubism and beyond have depicted flutes and violins in still-life compositions and portraiture.  Vermeer's beautiful women never looked better than at their music lessons.