Sleeping Buddha

Sei Saito is a Japanese-born artist, married to an American college professor, and after many years creating her works in Flagstaff, Arizona, is now living in Hawaii. She does large-scale acrylic paintings, which reflect vivid colors and patterns shaped by the places she has lived and by her life experiences. Her work draws deeply on her personal outlook, with her life and emotions strongly expressed in each piece. Painted not for an audience, but for herself, it is genuine artwork from the heart.

Sei describes this work with the following words: “My only daughter was diagnosed with an incurable disease when she was thirteen years old. No matter which hospital we went to, neither Western nor Eastern medicine could cure her. I took her to visit the Sleeping Buddha in Thailand. It is said that if you pray to the Sleeping Buddha and lift the statue with your little finger, your wish will come true.”