Kris Goto
FEATURED WORK
As an artist, it is important that I stay true to myself. What I’ve done, seen and felt is a huge factor when it comes to inspiration.
In a way it is a self portrait, but from a third person perspective. Pen on paper is the most natural medium for me to express myself and what my brain sees.
In recent years I’ve also began as a muralist. In a sense, it is frightening to have to face yourself in that scale. But that’s one way to see my own personal growth.
I am inspired by the local island lifestyle and the surf culture of Hawaii. I am fascinated by the local tradition, expression and this inexplicable sense of home that I experience here.
It’s the same feeling I get when I float in the ocean current, or when I meet a very flirtatious wave or even a brief conversation with a stranger over spam.
It is this day to day occurrences that I find humor and playfulness in. It is exactly this that I try to explore through my current line of work.
Her early fascination was with manga, especially the works of artists Hayao Miyazaki, Yuu Watase, Ai Yazawa and Osamu Tezuka.
She never doubted that she'll be a manga artist after she graduates high school.
Born and raised in the countryside of Japan (wooo rice fields!!) , Kris moved to Hong Kong (oooooh concrete!!) at the age of nine. She spent two years of high school in New Zealand where she discovered worlds outside manga, particularly inspired by the art of Maori tattoos, the imaginative and sometimes eerie works of Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman. She moved to Hawaii in 2006.
First wave caught back in 2009.
Her favorite comfort food is pho, any kine soup and rice balls with mentaiko.