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Bio
Saijo was born and raised in Los Angeles, and was influenced by media culture (i.e. books, television, movies, magazines). Saijo takes the approach of “open text” which takes an object, such as a book, transforms the material from sequential to spatial order, and opens up a space to create new meaning. His unconventional process often involves Xerox copy technology, office supplies, and building materials to construct art with a wide range of subject matter from mid-century modern architecture, WWII photos, cinema stills, imaginary landscapes, and the history of fashion.
Saijo rejects the notion of art as a fixed idea defined by history, and instead he reclaims history, and redefines it based on “human experience”. His work takes the form of installation, drawing, sculpture, and mixed media.
Saijo refers to the notion of “memory construction” as an entry point to understanding his complex body of work. Memory consists of a combination of feeling, words and image which shape our perception of reality. As a youth Saijo spent much of his time sailing with his father off the coast of Southern California. Such memories have manifested in his recent work which explores themes of loss, entropy, transformation, and the unconscious: represented by an oceanscape where the boundaries are blurred between the sky and the sea. Mythology and classic tales, like Homer’s Odyssey and Stories of the Seven Seas, are reduced to abstraction, thus leaving the viewer to weave their own meaning into the work, navigating through a personal dreamscape, and continuing on a journey between the familiar and the unknown. (Bleicher Golightly)
Mike Saijo was born in 1974, he attended Pasadena Art Center College of Design, and grew up in the suburbs outside of Los Angeles. He started out looking at many books and magazines and later influenced by graffiti art and Oshuji-Japanese calligraphy.
After high school he made his first ‘book piece’ using pages of the New Testament bible, and printing an image of Senator Daniel Innoye he found from a history book and began to make art about ‘making history‘.
Influenced by the tradition of ancient manuscripts, he copies information using a xerox copy machine onto old discolored pages of books creating a sense of the old, while venturing into the new. He maps out territories of knowledge from a wide range of resources and reworks them to operate on its own terms. For him it is an attempt to take ownership of the past, and effect how we see our present historical situation as we enter into moment of accelerated change and may experience memory loss.
He has exhibited at MOCA, and in the permanent collection at the Orange County Museum of Agriculture and Nikkei History at Cal State Fullerton, as well as University of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand. (MOPLA)
Mike Saijo explores the notions of “representation and history” by forming constructions and site-specific installations—with the text of actual book pages juxtaposing imagery of historical incidents and events which have had significant local impact. Together, image and text undergo a process of reduction and abstraction, combining to articulate the point that “now” is as much “history” as history is now.
The art-making process involves deconstruction, appropriation, and re-contextualization of text and image. Mike is interested in the continual process of decomposition of meanings which do not correspond to conventional, constructed “reality”, but at the same time create new meaning. His artistic choices are made through a combination of research, hypothesizing, and personal ethics guided by a certain intuitive logic where conventional thought may not apply. (Lens Scratch)
Mike Saijo uses an innovative process applying Xerox technology and pages from discarded books to create what can be viewed as post-modern conceptual painting. He juxtaposes textual fields with imagery of personal and historical significance often selected by an intuitive process. Saijo explores the notions of “distant reading” by manipulating the book from a sequential order to a spatial order and opens up the possibilities of interpretation. His constructions are derived from Ludwig Wittgenstein’s idea of ’colloquial language’ that every sense can be expressed without having an idea how what each word means just as one speaks without knowing how single sounds are produced. (The Loft)
Curriculum Vitae
MIKE SAIJO
MIKE.SAIJO@GMAIL.COM
CELL (213) 359-8746
Updated as of 1/5/2016
Education
1994-1998 Pasadena Art Center College of Design, Fine Art / Film
1992-1994 Pasadena City College, Graphic Design / Fine Art
Awards and Honors
2015 Public Art Invitation - Utility Box Project, South Pasadena Arts Council
2015 CA 101 - Redondo Beach Power Plant, 2nd Place and Public Choice Award
2012 Institute for Arts and Olfaction - Research Fellow, Los Angeles, California
2007 Columbia University Medical Center Community Relations, NYC, New York
2006 28th Annual Wallworks Juried Competition, LA Artcore, LA Brewerey Annex
2006 2nd Annual International Artists Festival in Thailand, Bangkok
2005 Public Art RFQ, LAPD Headquarters, LA County Cultural Affair Department
Solo Exhibitions
2016 INAKA, SPARC Gallery, South Pasadena Arts Council, Pasadena, California
2015 New and Past Works, LA Artcore, Brewery Annex, Los Angeles, California
2014 Living Legacy of Ethel Percy Andrus, USC IGM Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2014 We Are Spiritual Machines, Porch Gallery, Ojai California
2014 Soft Machine: DNA 2, USC IGM Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2013 Portraits at Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles, California
2011 Soft Machine: DNA, USC IGM Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2010 Dream Deferred, Bleicher Galleries, Los Angeles, California
2009 One Piece Bleicher / Golightly Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2008 3000 Worlds in a Moment, LA Artcore, Brewery Annex, Los Angeles, California
2008 Down By Law, Julie Rico Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2007 Corpus Xeroxysm 4, LA Artcore Brewery Annex, Los Angeles, California
2006 Corpus Xeroxysm 3, Tompkins Square Library, East Village, NYC, New York
2005 Corpus Xeroxysm 2, INRI Studios, Los Angeles, California
2004 Corpus Xeroxysm 1, 611 Studio, Los Angeles, California
Group Exhibitions
2015 CA 101, Redondo Beach Power Plant, Redondo Beach, California
2015 Pacific Asia Museum Fund Raiser Exhibition, Pasadena, California
2015 UNUSUAL MEDIUMS, BG Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2015 BOLD NOSTALGIA, BG Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2015 ADL ArtWorks Fundraiser Exhibition, Pritzkers Residence
2015 Boyle Heights, LA PLAZA de la Cultura y Artes, Los Angeles, California
2015 Greyscale Wonderland, Bleicher Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2015 CUSTOM, Bleicher Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2014 IDENTITY, Snap! Orlando, Orlando, Florida
2014 Living Legacy of Ethel Percy Andrus, Ojai Valley Museum, Ojai, California
2014 CUSTOM, Bleicher Gorman Gallery, Bergamont Station, Los Angeles, California
2014 INTERSECTIONS at the Breed Street Shul, Boyle Heights, California
2014 Diverted Destruction, Loft at Liz’s Los Angeles, California
2014 MOPLA Photography Exhibition, Loft at Liz’s, Los Angeles, California
2013 Ojai Art Festival, Porch Gallery, Ojai, California
2013 ADL ArtWorks Exhibition, curated by Caspar Martin, Pritzker Residence
2013 GLOWfest, Bleicher Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2013 Nostalgia Bold, Bleicher Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2013 Ramajangala University of Technology, Rattanakosin, Bangkok, Thailand
2013 9th Annual International Arts Festival,Pho Chan Campus, Thanvaburi, Bangkok, Thailand
2012 Last Exhibition, Bleicher Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2012 Flight Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
2012 Opening Exhibition, Bleicher Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2010 Photography Show, The Loft at Liz's, Los Angeles, California
2010 Diverted Destruction, The Loft at Liz's, Los Angeles, California
2009 A Long Long Summer, S1F Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2009 FRESH Silent Auction, MOCA Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles, California
2008 Human Botany, Julie Rico Gallery, Downtown Los Angeles, California
2007 Cheap and Plentiful, curated by Mark Cousin, 207gallery, Inwood, NewYork
2007 Micro Gestalt, curated by Airom Bleicher, 207gallery, Inwood, New York
2007 Orange County Museum of Agriculture and Nikkei Heritage, Cal State Fullerton
2007 Micro Gestalt, Orphanage Gallery, Silverlake, California
2006 Gallery A, Two Person Exhibition, Los Feliz, California
2006 LA Artcore Annual Benefit Auction, Union Center for the Arts, Los Angeles, California
2006 Ramajangala University of Technology, Rattanakosin, Bangkok
2006 2nd Annual International Arts Festival, Pho Chan Campus, Thanvaburi, Bangkok
2005 Best in Show, deSotoGallery, Los Angeles, California
2005 Java Studios Winter Salon, Brooklyn New York
2005 deSoto Gallery PhotoNY, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York
2005 LA Artcore Wallworks Competition, Brewery Annex, Los Angeles, California
2005 LA Artfest, Sci-Arc Campus, Los Angles CA
2004 Synthetic Zero, Bronx, New York
2004 Broken Arm Long Shadow – 3 person show, Kristi Engle Gallery , Los Angeles
2004 deSoto Gallery Art LA, Santa Monica, California
2004 MJ Higgins Fine Art Landscape Exhibition, Los Angeles, California
2003 MJ Higgins Fine Art Marilyn Exhibition, Los Angeles, California
1997 Pasadena City College Art Gallery, Pasadena, California
Site-Specific / Public Works
2014 Ranch House Restaurant, Ojai, California
2014 Umami Burger, Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, California
2014 Soft Machine Project, Living Legacy of Ethel Percy Andrus, The Gables, Ojai, California
2014 Soft Machine Project, Living Legacy of Ethel Percy Andrus, Lincoln High School, Los Angeles, California
2013 Homeboy Industries in Chinatown, Los Angeles, California
2013 Umami Burger, Greenwich Village, New York
2013 Umami Burger, Palo Alto, California
2012 Umami Burger, Hermosa Beach, California
2012 Digital Divide Café, an internet cafe business art project in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California
2010 Los Angeles Architectural Survey, in a real estate office in Silverlake / Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
2007 Baudrillard Politics Anime, during an Obama Fundraiser at 207 Gallery, Inwood, NYC
2006-07 Pollock Equation, installed in front of school doorway in Inwood, NYC
2005 Splendor, founded an “unofficial public art site” where street artists post up their work in the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District
Performances
2012 Yoda’s Brain, by Chromatists TCL London / Los Angeles Exchange Exhibition, Los Angeles, California
2011 Everything is Happening at Once, Sound Performance at Bleicher Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2010 History of Riots in Los Angeles, Sound Performance at Bleicher Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2006 D.E.A.D., Sound Performance at Tompkins Square Library New York, New York
1997 Entropic Tailspin, Video/Performance, Rose Bowl Parking Lot, Pasadena, California
Curatorial Works
2012 OddFellow Hall / Studio, Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California
2012 Digital Divide Gallery Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California
2012 Soft Machine: DNA Travelling Installation, Digital Divide Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2012 Forum on the History of Medicine, USC Institute for Genetic Medicine, Los Angeles, California
2011 Soft Machine: DNA Travelling Installation, USC Institute for Genetic Medicine, Los Angeles, California
2011 Soft Machine: DNA Travelling Installation, Bleicher Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2010 Roots & Wings Project, Co-Curator Angela Penaredondo SPARC, Santa Monica, California
2007 Abstractions, 207 Gallery, Inwood, New York
2007 History of Conspiracy, 207 Gallery, Inwood, New York
Preparator and Art Related Work
2015 Creative Partner, Shima Entertainment and Arts
2015 Assistant Director of Japanese Affairs for LA Art Show
2014 Illustration Art for DOKA B100 by Dr. Ernest Nagamatsu
2014 Commission for LANSCA Gift to Nagoya City Hall
2014 Gift to Japanese American Cultural Center, Remembering Sadako Art Book
2012 Designed and built interior of Digital Divide Cafe
2011 Designed and built interior of Bleicher Gallery
2009-15 Teaching Private Art Lessons to Elderly and Autistic Young Adults
2009-12 Art Handler - James Corcoran Gallery
2009 Installer - Taiwanese Cultural Center, New York
2008 Lead Preparator - Asian Contemporary Art Fair ArtLA
2007 Lead Preparator - Asian Contemporary Art Fair ArtLA
2006-07 Installer/Director of 207 Gallery, Inwood, New York
2004-05 Practical F/X Assistant – Special Effect Solutions
Bibliography
Andrus, For Us, by Mark Lewis, Ojai Quarterly 2014
We Are Spiritual Machines, by Demitri Corbin, Ojai Quarterly 2014
Interiors 2012
Angeleno Magazine - Arts Issue 2012
Acorn Newspaper 2011
Los Angeles Times Thursday Pick of the Week 2011
Los Angeles Times Sunday Home Section 2009
Rafu Shimpo Newspaper October 2008
Shelter Magazine 2007
Westside The Spirit August 30, 2007 Artists at Work by Carla Zanoni 2007
New York Times August 19, 2007 Pollock Equation by Carla Zanoni 2007
NewYork Magazine Art Candy on-line publication July 2007
Manhattan Times, Inwood Edition by Mike Fittelson July 12-July 18 2007
Cal State Fullerton Inside Magazine May 2007
Los Angles Magazine Design Issue 2007
Let Go Magazine Issue #2 2007
At Home Magazine 2006
2nd Annual International Arts Festival in Thailand Catalog Summer 2006
Lifescape Magazine Canvassing the Future 2006
Art LA Catalog, January 2006
The Book LA, Mike Saijo, by Mia Taylor, Spring 2005
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