Keiko Morinai

“Water-Moon Guanyin,” 2012, canvas, acrylic, gold leaf, stone, 22 × 27.5 cm

In the Thirty-three Forms of Avalokiteśvara series, Morinai Keiko reconstructs the image of Water-Moon Guanyin through painting and material collage. Water-Moon Guanyin—also known as Auspicious-Water Guanyin or Auspicious-Water Bodhisattva—is one of the thirty-three manifestations of Guanyin described in the Lotus Sutra. The deity is associated with the reflection of the moon upon water, hence the name.

In Morinai’s work, the figure of Guanyin is intentionally omitted. In its place appears a scene rendered in rugged, expressive brushstrokes—an evocation of the bright moon illuminating a lotus on water. This approach also recalls early Indian Buddhist art, in which symbolic substitutes were used to represent the Buddha’s presence. Amid the interweaving of gold and blue, even in the absence of Guanyin’s bodily form, the viewer senses a presence at once radiant and majestic, yet profound and compassionate.