Anne Kagioka Rigoulet Biography

Born in 1987 in Kanagawa, Japan, Anne Kagioka Rigoulet completed a BFA in Oil Painting in 2011, followed by an MFA in Mural Painting in 2013, at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts. Kagioka went on to enroll in Fresco and Mosaic at the Ecole Nationale Superieuredes Arts Appliques et des Metiers d'Art in Paris, and continued her studies in Fresco at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, later establishing her own studio in Kamakura where she works today. Kagioka's sculptural paintings utilize a unique method that combines fabric collage with sgraffito ("to scratch" in Italian), a classic technique used in mural decor where multiple layers of paint are applied, then scraped away to reveal the colors underneath. Kagioka's interest lies in capturing the ephemeral moment when a familiar landscape transforms into an abstract vision, and since 2014, she has been working on a series of sculptural paintings, Reflection, based on her studies of water reflections from around the world. From the Reflection series emerged the Figure series, which straddles abstraction and representation by portraying figures reflected in water. In addition, Kagioka's experience at an artist residency program in Luxembourg in 2019 birthed the Element series, in which she depicts mammoth rock formations—gradually carved out by water erosion since ancient times—with thinly layered paint on delicate, bare canvas. Kagioka's works, composed of imposing yet exquisite colors, vacillate between abstract and representational, two-dimensional and sculptural forms, while continuing to fascinate viewers with their perpetual transformation and unique worldview.