Life as Art: Wrapped in the Warmth of Hawai‘i / Kris Goto – Artist｜ライトハウス・ハワイ特集記事

“To Live Is to Draw: The World of Kris Goto”

Kris Goto is one of Hawai‘i’s most beloved contemporary artists. Born in Japan, she spent her early childhood in Kyushu before moving to Hong Kong, then New Zealand, and eventually settling in Hawai‘i in 2006.

“For me, drawing is as natural as breathing. When people ask, ‘How old were you when you started drawing?’ it feels like they’re asking, ‘When did you start breathing?’” she says with a laugh. “I drew from the moment I could hold a pen. My parents used to say the hardest part was simply keeping enough paper around—anything from the back of a flyer to a scrap of notebook was fair game.”

Her work blends whimsical imagination with the gentle rhythm of Hawai‘i’s natural world: fish swimming through the sky, people seeking peace by tucking themselves into spam musubi, or a woman oversleeping and finding herself woven into a lei of blossoms. The result is a universe at once playful, dreamlike, and unmistakably Hawaiian.

The foundation of her art lies in figure drawing. As a child, she spent hours copying manga, gravitating especially toward illustrations with realistic detail. “The later volumes of Slam Dunk were so beautifully drawn—the eyes, hands, bone structure. It evolved into real art,” she recalls. In high school, she often studied anatomical diagrams at the library, learning the balance of the face, the shapes of organs, muscles, and bones. Exposure to global art and years of independent practice gradually shaped her distinctive style.

A pivotal shift came when she arrived in Hawai‘i. Once focused primarily on monochromatic depictions of people—such as hula dancers—her work began to fill with color, and her compositions shifted: the environment began embracing the subject rather than the other way around. “Experiencing the warmth and richness of the people here changed me from the inside,” she reflects. “Hawai‘i’s colors seeped naturally into my work. I also became more aware of how the environment holds us. Because life itself is art, I think my own transformation simply surfaced in my drawings.”

Ideas appear suddenly amid the curiosity of everyday life—while driving, or just as she’s drifting to sleep. Each new artwork feels like meeting a new friend. “When the image appears vividly in my mind, I get frustrated because my hand can’t keep up,” she admits. “Other times, only half the canvas is clear—maybe just the right side—so I start there and figure out the left later. That part is fun, too.”

Her pieces are defined by meticulous detail: a single petal, the veins of a leaf, even individual grains of rice in a spam musubi. Depending on the size, she might complete a work in four sleepless days or spend two weeks drawing eight hours a day. Now raising a family, she sometimes draws at 3 a.m.—a quiet joy she cherishes as she loses herself in creation.

Her artistic reach is broad. She is frequently commissioned for murals and collaborative projects, including the highly noticed “ALOHA” sign painting at Ala Moana Center. She has created murals at Farrington High School, in hotels, and even inside train stations in Japan. Collaboration, she says, is a source of delight. “Sometimes I’m given surprising themes, colors, or conditions—completely different from my own sensibilities. But I love that. I get carried into a new world, thinking, ‘Oh, this works too?’ It’s full of surprises and discoveries.”

She is frequently commissioned to paint murals for schools, hotels, and shops.
One of the charms of her work is its duality—an interplay of individuality and boundless imagination.

Now a major presence in Hawai‘i’s art scene, Kris is often invited to speak at schools from elementary through university level. “One question I hear a lot is, ‘People tell me I draw too much—should I keep going?’ I understand that so well; I felt the same way. I always tell them, ‘It’s important to keep drawing, but also take care of your responsibilities. Though honestly… when you want to draw, you’re going to draw anyway,’” she laughs. She encourages young artists to trust themselves: “You create your own rules in art. And the confidence you need comes from drawing every single day.”

To Kris —whose life is inseparable from her art—there is no concept of “on” or “off.” “When I visit my family in Japan, I find myself doodling faces on the tangerines sitting on the table,” she says, laughing.

Her work, like her spirit, is rich, warm, and full of expressive depth. From Hawai‘i, Kris Goto’s vibrant world will no doubt continue to reach audiences across the globe.