By Charlotte Russell

Chieko Murasugi is an abstract and mixed-media artist born in Tokyo, raised in Toronto, and now living and working in Chapel Hill after two decades in San Francisco. Her personal history and layered identity inform a multidisciplinary practice that spans painting, textiles, photography, collage, and digital processes.

Much of Murasugi’s work is rooted in inherited memory. Both of her parents survived the March 1945 bombings of Tokyo. Her mother’s split-second decision to run toward the river saved her life—a formative family story that sparked Murasugi’s enduring interest in chance and the unpredictable forces that shape human experience.

In Deuce, her newest painting series, Murasugi employs computer-based randomization software to inform elements of composition and color, investigating how chance intersects with visual illusion and perception. Each painting features two large circles that share a common background and hold equal visual weight, yet never touch. Their separation mirrors the polarized climate of contemporary America—two sides occupying the same space but unable to connect. The charged distance between them creates a dynamic vibration between order and disorder, a visual tension that lies at the heart of Murasugi’s work.

Murasugi is the cofounder of Basement, an artist-run project space in the Triangle. She holds a BA in experimental psychology from McGill University, a PhD in visual perception from York University, and a BFA and MFA in studio art from York University and UNC–Chapel Hill.

Her Deuce series will be on view in an upcoming exhibition at Craven Allen Gallery in Durham in March 2026. More of her work can be found at chiekomurasugi.com and on Instagram @cmurasugi.