Contemporary abstract artist Gina Keatley has announced the debut of 'Motto Motto,' a new five-painting acrylic-on-canvas series developed between New York City and Akō, Japan. The announcement comes 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 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. 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.'
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. Accumulation, revision, and return become the shared structure connecting the five canvases. 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.
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. 'Motto Motto' marks a continued refinement of Keatley's abstract practice and a transition toward a broader international framework for her work.
For the art world, Keatley's move signals a growing trend of artists establishing cross-cultural platforms that extend beyond traditional gallery representation. Salt Road Studio's focus on residencies and publishing could create new opportunities for international artistic exchange, particularly between the United States and Japan. The ownership transition of Bushwick Gallery also raises questions about the sustainability of artist-run spaces and the evolving role of founders in the contemporary art ecosystem. As Keatley shifts her attention to Salt Road Studio, her dual presence in New York and Akō may serve as a model for how artists can build transnational practices that are both commercially viable and culturally impactful.
The series and press images can be viewed 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. Learn more at https://untamedmoderns.com.
