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About kleine tänzerin | Maiko Sakurai Karner
Maiko Sakurai Karner was born in Vienna, Austria, to a Japanese mother and Austrian father. In her family where art was an omni-present issue, Maiko soon discovered art&design as her true calling and approach.
Maiko is Japanese and translates as little dancer (=kleine tänzerin,in German). These in-fluences, dance and movement, are easily vi-sible in her art and designs, which are full of playful and often moveable details. Versatile creations, expressing emotions. kleine tänzerin represents the artist's origin, as it points out Maikos Eurasian descent, her Japanese and Austrian background makes 'kleine tänzerin' stand out.
Another meaning of “Maiko” is “young Geisha”, which can be translated as “artist”. Geishas were considered as the incarnation of Japanese art forms. It only seems natural that music, dance, literature, and especially fine arts are among her sources of inspiration and also guide her to challenge herself, to blur the lines between different art forms
Every creation Maiko brings into being - be it paintings, sculptures, jewellery art or performing arts - is a combination of an expressive and free in nature component on the one hand. And an opposite unit, rich in details, structured with an almost disciplined character on the other. These diverse attributes can be found in the artist’s personality and originate from growing up with and in between two very different cultures.
Always being perceived as someone who is "half" - always one of the other, and never part of the collective - induced Maiko to translate her personal awareness and conflicts into art. Every single artwork of hers is addressing her personal awareness of duality and constantly questioning the societal pressure of cultural positioning.
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