This work was painted in 2022 while Nishimura was staying in New
York City.
Blooming and falling every year, cherry blossoms (sakura) mirror
human life.
Japanese people love cherry blossoms, always holding these
short-lived flowers in their heart.
This work depicts the ardor of a dragon god that continues to rise
upward until the very last moment of its life. This is a gentle,
precious, beautiful, and completely unique dragon, a motif she has
been drawing since her childhood.
The work contains this message from the artist: "The beautiful cherry
blossoms of Japan create a strong and happy future together with
the dragon. Immerse yourself in the overwhelming world of Japanese
culture."
Whenever painting she creates by painting what she is feeling as a
living being. Without drawing a rough sketch, Nishimura starts out by
painting with her fingers and palms based on her inspiration and
then finishes the work using brushes.
By expressing the energy of life with her paintings, she continues to
pass on that energy to the beholders.

Born in Kumamoto Prefecture. Nishimura started working independently as a copywriter and a creative director after working at an advertising agency. She won several awards in Japan and abroad as a copywriter. Starting with her solo exhibition held in 2015 in Los Angeles, she has held a number of solo exhibitions worldwide including New York City, Milan, London, and Paris. Based in New York City and Tokyo, she is active around the world. She continues to powerfully express the energy of life with her unique sense of color.

The paintings of Mari Nishimura are often described as powerful and passionate. Without drawing a rough sketch, Nishimura starts out by layering colors on the canvas with her fingers and palms based on her inspiration and then follows what she has already painted with brushes to finish the work. Nishimura has loved dragons since she was a little girl. She never got tired of drawing dragons, and just kept on drawing them intently. Naturally, her works often feature dragons. Nishimura’s dragons are gentle, precious, and beautiful. Expressing the happiness abound in life and the bitterness, sadness, and sorrow in its background, she incorporates Japanese elements into her works and expresses with a unique sense of color. Nishimura mainly uses acrylic paints when drawing pop drawings. She sometimes uses mineral pigments and even sand from the premises of a shrine.
Nishimura hopes to paint all deep feelings, saying that she gets an irresistible urge to paint when she is either very happy or very sad. Whenever painting, she values having dialogues with her inner self.

Seeing a color when she hears music or sees a person or a word, Nishimura has synesthesia. She says that even when her eyes are closed, she sees colors. Growing up, at times she felt uneasy about being different. Now, she sees it as her individuality that she receives people’s feelings as colors and that she sees things that other people don’t see. Nishimura’s outstanding sense of color is brought to life in her paintings. This is why her paintings are described as having distinct colors. She gets a bird’s eye view of the entire painting and her inspiration tells her which colors to use. Nishimura says that she has had a tumultuous life since childhood. “I am who I am today because I overcame all the difficulties,” Nishimura says. Always being positive in times of adversity, she expresses her energy with her paintings, which deliver that energy to the beholders.