Maiko Kikuchi is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York City, known for her surreal, handcrafted visual worlds that combine puppetry, collage, animation, performance, and sculpture. Her work explores the blurred boundaries between reality and imagination, often evoking the feeling of a “visible daydream” ― a term she uses to describe the liminal space where familiar objects and stories are twisted into something uncanny, humorous, and emotionally resonant.
Originally from Japan, Kikuchi moved to the U.S. to study at Pratt Institute, where she earned her MFA in Theater. Her aesthetic is rooted in her early fascination with box gardens used in sandplay therapy, influenced by her father, a psychoanalyst. This early exposure to miniature worlds and psychological landscapes continues to shape her storytelling, which often layers personal memory, subconscious imagery, and poetic abstraction.
Kikuchi’s work has been presented at prominent venues such as The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Japan Society, HERE Arts Center, and LaMaMa Experimental Theater.
