Contemporary abstract artist Gina Keatley has announced Motto Motto, a five-painting acrylic-on-canvas series developed between New York City and Akō, Japan. The series arrives as Keatley completes the ownership transition of Bushwick Gallery and expands Salt Road Studio, an artist-led platform in Akō focused on contemporary art, publishing, international exchange and future residency programming. The convergence of these developments marks a significant evolution in Keatley's career, positioning her practice within a broader international framework.
The series takes its name from the Japanese word motto, meaning "more." Repeated as motto motto, the phrase becomes both an instruction and a rhythm: a commitment to continue beyond the moment when a painting first appears resolved. This conceptual foundation underscores Keatley's approach to process, where accumulation, revision and return serve as the shared structure connecting the five canvases.
The five works—More Depth, More Motion, More Expanse, More Resonance and More Cadence—each measure 48 by 36 inches. Across blush, cream, sand, smoke and pale earth tones, Keatley layers acrylic, scrapes, veils, interrupts and rebuilds the surface. Faint flashes of mandarin orange, introduced through her raindrop technique, bring energy to the quieter palette while darker marks and fragments remain visible beneath.
"Motto Motto is about pushing past the first point where a painting feels finished," Keatley says. "It is about taking more from the process. More time, more movement, more pressure, more room to see what the work can become." This statement encapsulates the series' driving ethos, which prioritizes sustained engagement over early resolution.
Rather than illustrating Japan, the series treats movement between New York and Akō as a working condition. Distance, atmosphere and cultural experience enter the paintings through process instead of literal imagery. The result is a body of work that feels weathered and newly made at once: soft in palette, yet insistent in presence. Each painting carries its own cadence while remaining part of a shared visual language built through touch, interruption and persistence.
That geographic shift is also institutional. After founding and directing Bushwick Gallery in Brooklyn, Keatley is completing the gallery's ownership transition while turning greater attention toward Salt Road Studio. The Akō-based initiative connects her New York practice with the Seto Inland Sea region and is being developed to support contemporary art, artist-led publishing, international exchange and future residency programming. This move signals a deliberate expansion of Keatley's influence beyond traditional gallery structures.
Motto Motto marks a continued refinement of Keatley's abstract practice and a transition toward a broader international framework for her work. The series can be viewed, along with press images, at https://untamedmoderns.com/gina-keatley-motto-motto-series/.
Gina Keatley is a contemporary abstract artist working between New York City and Akō, Japan. Her practice explores place, movement, memory, material tension and what she describes as power through fragility. Her work is characterized by layered surfaces, restrained palettes, gestural interruption and a recurring use of mandarin orange. Keatley is the founder of Salt Road Studio and the founder and former director of Bushwick Gallery.
Untamed Moderns is an independent contemporary art platform presenting the work and projects of Gina Keatley. Based in New York with a growing connection to Akō, Japan, it publishes new bodies of work and artist-led initiatives, including Salt Road Studio. More information is available at https://untamedmoderns.com.
