Landscape by Mike Saijo

2025 wax, toner, pages of Zen Wave on wood panel. 63" x 63" Mike Saijo (b. 1974) is a Los Angeles–based contemporary mixed-media artist working across installation, drawing, sculpture, and his signature book-based “open text” pieces. His work combines experimental storytelling with layered visual language, offering immersive narratives that engage history, memory, and cultural identity.   Saijo frequently uses Xerox-printed text and imagery from historical books and media, which he layers onto reclaimed materials such as wood or paper. These materials act as carriers of fragmented memory, allowing him to explore how stories are preserved, distorted, or forgotten over time. Through abstraction and repetition, he creates textured surfaces that reveal the complexity of historical truth.   His practice often addresses themes like trauma, identity, and collective memory, inviting viewers to reflect on how the past shapes the present. By fusing archival content with tactile media, Saijo crea