“I want to make visual in my art that eternity is in the fleeting foam appearing every time ocean waves break and burst into disappearance in a few seconds, that infinity is in a fallen leaf on your palm when you pick it up, and that awesome reality is in a piece of cloud reflected in a pond. Throughout all these, peace, serenity, and meditative space are what I like to convey through my art.” - Ken Otsuka There is a Zen-like quality in the work of Ken Otsuka, who now lives in Western Massachusetts. By combining the techniques of traditional Western realism with Eastern influences in composition and spirituality, Otsuka creates paintings that combine ideas of change and timelessness. Seashells, rocks, water and waves, trees and leaves have been incorporated into his vocabulary as symbols of change or ephemeral existence. Ken was born in Japan in 1944, and studied at Aoyama Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo. He has lived in the United States for most of his adult life, and studied at the prestigious Art Students League, New York, NY. Ken’s work is in collections both in the United States and abroad, including Chase Manhattan, IBM, the NYNEX Corporation, and has been featured in American Art Collector magazine.