BIO

Misato Pang is a multidisciplinary artist whose work bridges personal narrative with broader cultural and political themes. Born in 1992 in Hong Kong to Japanese and Chinese parents, she relocated to the United States during her late adolescence. Pang earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Brooklyn College and later completed a Master of Fine Arts in Painting at the New York Studio School.

Her artistic practice encompasses painting, ceramics, collage, and printmaking, often exploring identity, memory, and social phenomena. Pang's work has been exhibited in various venues across the United States and Japan, including the Susquehanna Art Museum and Cerulean Arts. Notably, her painting "Sunday Tree" received the Best of Show award at the 37th Annual Exhibition at Art St. Louis. In 2023, her work was featured in New American Paintings Issue #167, representing the Midwest region. Additionally, her work was selected by art critic and curator Jerry Gogosian from a pool of 2,000 submissions, highlighting her growing recognition in the contemporary art scene. Currently based in St. Louis, Missouri, Pang teaches art at Maryville University. She is also the co-founder of Janes and Pang Atelier, a creative studio focused on supporting artistic collaboration, hosting exhibitions, and engaging the local community through painting and drawing.

Artist statement

By infusing motifs from Japanese folklore, Chinese customs, and classical Western forms, my paintings celebrate this confluence of Asian imagery and the history of European painting. While my work is primarily figurative, I am most interested in the journey of light and its power to transfigure a subject. I use observation as a starting point for more invented forms, investigating the abstract qualities in nature that captivate me visually. Whenever I paint from life, I spend equal time searching as I am making marks on a surface. The light shifts rapidly in an instance of looking away from the subject, and I’m confronted with an urgency to simultaneously interpret and invent color relationships as to remain coherent and true to my previous observation. It is an ongoing quest to activate the entire painting, keeping tension in the right areas while maintaining an overall sense of harmony and resolution.

Painting has become a labor of constructing presences and keeping mysteries. In concealing and revealing form, I’ve stumbled into a journey of search, which requires faith, trust, and patience. I believe that what I do in the studio directly affects who I am as a person and how I conduct myself in the world.

Education

2019 New York Studio School, New York - MFA in Painting
2016 Brookyln College, New York - BFA in Studio Art
2013 UniART Institute, Hong Kong - Fashion Design and Merchandising Diploma

RESIDENCIES

2022 Four Pillars Artist Residency, Mount Gretna, PA
2020 Rosemarie Beck Foundation residency, NY
2019 Transform Residency, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Chautauqua School of Art, Chautauqua, NY
2017 Shiro Oni Residency, Japan
2016 Mount Gretna School of Art, Mount Gretna, PA

exhibitions
2024 Signal From the InfiniteJanes and Pang Atelier, St. Louis
40th Annual Exhibition, Art Saint Louis, MO
Four Friends from Hokkaido and America, Kiyoe Gallery, Niseko, Japan
Continuum: Alums of CVA, Fowler-Kellog Art Center, Chautauqua, NY
Cerulean Arts 12th Annual Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA
2701 Bloc Party, The Luminary, St. Louis, MO
2023 Maryville University Faculty Showcase, St. Louis, MO
Janes and Pang Atelier Pop-up Exhibition, St. Louis, MO
Art St. Louis Honors Award Exhibition, St. Louis, MO
Substantia: Group Exhibition, Arthouse2B, New York, NY
St. Louis Public Library Artist Spotlight
Plein Air, Works by Sarah Lorentz and Misato Pang, The Sheldon, St. Louis, MO
2022 Forty Five, Houska Gallery, St. Louis, MO
We Intuit, Houska Gallery, St Louis, MO
Four Pillars Exhibition, Susquehanna Art Museum, PA
Pandemic works on Paper, The Front, NOLA
2021 37th Annual Exhibition, Art St. Louis, MO
Road Trip 2021 Awards, Camelback Gallery
Grey Area Group Show, Treat Gallery, NY
New York Studio School Alumni Show, NY
Bowery Gallery International Competition, NY
Cunst Gallery, St. Louis, MO
“Breakdown” solo exhibition, 150w83 Gallery, NY
2020 Founders’ Exhibition, Space Scribbles
Fallout Group show, Grunwald Gallery, Bloomington, IN
466 Living Room Gallery Exhibition, Upper West side, NY
2019 X-mas Elf group show, Brooklyn, NY
Transform Capstone Residency Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY
Art of the Ordinary, Sheen Center, NY
2018 New(er) Works, New York Studio School, NY
Group show, Right Behind the New Museum, NY
Chautauqua Student Group Show, Fowler-Kellogg Art Center, NY
Observations and Imaginations, New York Studio School, NY
2017 Hidden Beauty Art Exhibition, Hamarikyu Asahi Small Hall, Tsukiji, Japan
Shiro Oni Group Exhibition, Onishi, Gunma, Japan
Anniversary Group Show, New Women Space, Brooklyn, NY
Memories of Summer Group Show, New York Studio School, NY
2016 Tribeca Art Factory Live painting performance and exhibition, NY