Cairn by Marina Ogai – oil painting of a woman in hanbok seated on a stack of stones against a pale blue sky
Cairn, detail – the seated figure in hanbok, long black braid and red ribbon, painted in soft ochre and grey
Cairn, detail – folds of the hanbok with a deep red ribbon running through them, thick oil brushwork
Cairn, detail – the raw unpainted edge of the linen with ochre drips running into the blue ground
Cairn, detail – the stacked stones built from flat planes of grey, cream and ochre oil paint
Cairn by Marina Ogai – the large canvas photographed outdoors with tropical plants behind it
Cairn – side view of the canvas showing the 5 cm depth and the painted edges of the stretcher
Marina Ogai standing beside Cairn in her studio, showing the scale of the 200 × 150 cm canvas
Cairn – the artist's red seal signature on the front of the linen canvas
Cairn, detail – the lower stones of the stack dissolving into the blue ground
Room mockup of Cairn above a low bench with a vase of branches and a table lamp – woman in hanbok atop stacked stones, oil on linen by Marina Ogai
Room mockup of Cairn in a tall room with bookshelves, a leather armchair and a window onto forest – large oil on linen by Marina Ogai
Cairn by Marina Ogai – oil painting of a woman in hanbok seated on a stack of stones against a pale blue sky
Cairn, detail – the seated figure in hanbok, long black braid and red ribbon, painted in soft ochre and grey
Cairn, detail – folds of the hanbok with a deep red ribbon running through them, thick oil brushwork
Cairn, detail – the raw unpainted edge of the linen with ochre drips running into the blue ground
Cairn, detail – the stacked stones built from flat planes of grey, cream and ochre oil paint
Cairn by Marina Ogai – the large canvas photographed outdoors with tropical plants behind it
Cairn – side view of the canvas showing the 5 cm depth and the painted edges of the stretcher
Marina Ogai standing beside Cairn in her studio, showing the scale of the 200 × 150 cm canvas
Cairn – the artist's red seal signature on the front of the linen canvas
Cairn, detail – the lower stones of the stack dissolving into the blue ground
Room mockup of Cairn above a low bench with a vase of branches and a table lamp – woman in hanbok atop stacked stones, oil on linen by Marina Ogai
Room mockup of Cairn in a tall room with bookshelves, a leather armchair and a window onto forest – large oil on linen by Marina Ogai

Cairn

$9,000.00

A cairn is a stack of stones with no mortar. It's built as a trail marker, as a memory. In Korea – as a doltap, a stone tower where every stone is laid with a wish. No one builds it whole: each passerby adds a stone and moves on, never knowing who placed the one below or who will place the next.

A person is built the same way. Someone laid down a language, someone a fear, someone the habit of keeping your back straight. Each with a wish of their own, and not always about you. There's no mortar: it all holds only through balance, and no one guarantees it. You are not the author of this stack. But you are the only place where all these stones finally rest together. And somewhere, you've already laid one of yours in someone else's.

From the series Given
Oil on linen canvas, 2026
200 × 150 × 5 cm
Original painting, signed. One of a kind.
All prices are in USD.

A cairn is a stack of stones with no mortar. It's built as a trail marker, as a memory. In Korea – as a doltap, a stone tower where every stone is laid with a wish. No one builds it whole: each passerby adds a stone and moves on, never knowing who placed the one below or who will place the next.

A person is built the same way. Someone laid down a language, someone a fear, someone the habit of keeping your back straight. Each with a wish of their own, and not always about you. There's no mortar: it all holds only through balance, and no one guarantees it. You are not the author of this stack. But you are the only place where all these stones finally rest together. And somewhere, you've already laid one of yours in someone else's.

From the series Given
Oil on linen canvas, 2026
200 × 150 × 5 cm
Original painting, signed. One of a kind.
All prices are in USD.