Description: Time Magazine declared 1959 “The Year of Manabu Mabe,” and in the early 1960s, he traveled throughout the United States and Europe promoting his artwork. Although his early work treated figurative subjects, Mabe’s mature style is characterized by bursts of color and line upon color-blocked and monochromatic backgrounds. His unique mode of abstract expressionism incorporates the graceful lines of his practice in Japanese calligraphy, and echoes the evocative strokes of Zen Buddhist painting. –Text by Shira Loev